New HP Inkjet Printer Vulnerability
Have you heard about the newest HP Inkjet printer vulnerability? Last week HP announced that a researcher found a critical flaw in over 150 of their inkjet printers. With how popular HP printers are, many people will have a lot of work o their hands to correct this. But thankfully, there is a fix available.
How did they find this new HP Inkjet printer vulnerability?
While we don’t know who found this issue, we know that a researcher found it and showed it to HP. Because of this, it’s unlikely that cyber criminals are using this flaw yet. But with the flaw announced, crooks will likely look for ways to exploit it soon.
The issue affects numerous models, including DeskJet, OfficeJet, and even ENVY series printers. So businesses as well as consumers need to make sure they patch this soon.
How severe is this really? It’s just a printer.
HP listed this flaw as critical, and it received a 9.8/10 score for severity. Crooks using this flaw could remotely execute code, so they would be able to cause serious problems with any printers they take over. And since many people and businesses do not monitor or properly secure printers, they could cause bigger issues.
Printers are prime candidates for stealing sensitive data because they often connect to the internet for extra features. Many people don’t realize it, but modern printers are essentially computers with their own hard drives and memory. This means that hackers can break into them too, and most people would never know they had.
Since few people expect crooks to use printers in a cyber attack, the criminals can also go undetected in a network considerable time. From the printer, crooks could launch attacks on other systems to steal valuable data or cause serious damage.
All of this makes this vulnerability extremely important to fix now.
What’s the fix for this new HP Inkjet printer vulnerability?
Thankfully HP released firmware updates last week to fix this issue. All you need to do is make sure your printer updates to the newest version. HP has a useful list of the affected printers and current firmware, or you can check HP’s support page for your specific printer.
Vulnerability assessments from Astria can also help pinpoint issues like these if you’re having difficulty tracking them down. Our assessments give you a higher level of understanding of your network so that you can keep yourself secured against such flaws.
However you choose to go about it, it is important to patch this new HP Inkjet printer vulnerability— contact us today if you need further assistance!
