86,800 network printers open to the whole internet - is one of them yours?
Posted on: 01/31/2013 10:04 AM
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Naked Security reports that UK blogger @skattyadz, alias Adam Howard, did a Google search for a URL matching the pattern you might use to connect to a nearby printer on your office network.
He reports that he got back "about 86,800 results." (Geeks will notice that's very close to 86,400 - the number of seconds in a day.)
For what it's worth, Howard built up a search term specific to HP printers. If you were to repeat his experiment with other vendors' URLs in the search mix, you'd probably get hundreds of thousands more publicly-visible printers.
Give it a try, or better yet, secure your printer.
HP has responded and provided a link to a PDF document titled HP Imaging and Printing Security Best Practices which we have available in zip format.
He reports that he got back "about 86,800 results." (Geeks will notice that's very close to 86,400 - the number of seconds in a day.)
For what it's worth, Howard built up a search term specific to HP printers. If you were to repeat his experiment with other vendors' URLs in the search mix, you'd probably get hundreds of thousands more publicly-visible printers.
Give it a try, or better yet, secure your printer.
HP has responded and provided a link to a PDF document titled HP Imaging and Printing Security Best Practices which we have available in zip format.
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