The Security Mentor

The weird thing about computer security is that everything is a computer these days.

A networked printer has a computer inside, often a full-scale one. If you could hook up a display and a keyboard to it you could use it as a low-end desktop machine. These computers can have security holes, bad guys can reprogram them to attack the rest of your network, and most people don't think about protecting their printers.

There's lots of information about this issue out there by now. I recommend this article about networked printer security.

So should be be afraid? Don't. Take the advice a New Yorker got from her mother: "Be alert, be aware, but never afraid". Just add yet one more chore to your list, to check every now and then whether your printer vendor has some updated software.