Researchers at Columbia University claim to have discovered a security vulnerability in “tens of millions” of HP LaserJet printers that could allow a remote hacker to install malicious firmware.
In a demonstration of the physical damage that could be done by the hack, Columbia researchers Professor Salvatore Stolfo and Ang Cui showed how a compromised PC could tell a hacked printer to continually heat up a component, eventually causing paper to turn brown and smoke.
“In that demonstration, a thermal switch shut the printer down – basically, causing it to self-destruct – before a fire started, but the researchers believe other printers might be used as fire starters, giving computer hackers a dangerous new tool that could allow simple computer code to wreak real-world…
Read more in my article on the Naked Security website.
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