Where are your Secrets being Kept?

Printer Risks/Vulnerabilities

Article by the Cyber Security Committee

Office printers/scanners/fax machines (hereinafter “printers”) are a treasure trove of sensitive data. Because they often come with a web-based interface or an internet connection, they have a huge attack surface, making them easy to hack.

How are printers vulnerable?

• Open External Ports (USB, memory cards, etc.)
• Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and other wireless connections

• Printers have a memory – all items printed, scanned and copied are stored in memory on hard drive of printer

What do hackers want with printer access?

• Access to Non-Public Personal Information and other sensitive information
• Backdoor access to network – printers can become a “hot spot” for others to use your internet access which could compromise your data and slow the speed of your Wi-Fi

What are common methods of attack?

• Criminal sending an image of a file to a company’s printer with Trojan malicious code, which can allow them to capture the content of all images that are printed
• Criminal will change printer configuration to re-route print jobs to outside the company
• Criminal will attack through Wi-Fi by getting the printer to connect to a malicious network and then execute/install harmful code

Steps/suggestions to protect your printers:

• Change the password access to printer regularly
• Consider having all employees have their own long, unique passwords
• Change the printer’s name
• Change the printer’s Wi-Fi password
• Regular updating with security patches and software
• Regularly update and upgrade your printer for latest in security features 
• Consider disabling USB port on the printer
• Turn off all application options that come pre-configured with your printer
• Turn on dual 2-factor authentication, if available
• Turn off “notifications” for proactive maintenance being sent to suppliers (any messaging going outside your company is taking a risk)
• Configure network settings so that the printer can only answer commands that come from specified ports on your network router

• Use a firewall on your printer
• Enable the hard disk setting to encrypt/set to overwrite
• Consider turning off all Wi-Fi or Bluetooth options
• Awareness is key - Recognizing the risk that printers have and making it a priority is crucial in managing and mitigating these threats

 Special considerations to protect your printers AT HOME:

• Shred all sensitive information that you print at home office prior to throwing it away
• Update your driver when prompted 
• If you get rid of a home printer, destroy the hard drive or change the printer settings to make sure that the hard drive is not storing any information
• If using Wi-Fi – make sure you have a secure connection using VPN - Consider hard wiring if possible
• Disable Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) printing and enable Secure IPP printing instead
• Make sure your wireless security is WPA2 or stronger
• Change setting and redirect to https
• Set encryption strength to high