MFP PRINTERS CAN BE HACKED !

[Anonymous]

Printers a weak link in network security
LAS
VEGAS–The multifunction printers found in many offices are not dumb
devices, but are computers that can be hacked, a security expert has
warned.In a presentation at the Black Hat security conference, Brendan
O’Connor, a security expert at an unnamed U.S. financial company,
showed how he could gain control over a Xerox device and wreak all
kinds of havoc”Stop treating them as printers. Treat them as servers,
as workstations,” O’Connor said in his presentation on Thursday.
Printers should be part of a company’s patch program and be carefully
managed, not forgotten by IT and handled by the most junior person on
staff, he said,In the case of the Xerox system, O’Connor said the
multifunction device was, in essence, a Linux server. He was able to
exploit a weakness in the security of the device and gain full control
of the machine. O’Connor noted that he also looked at devices from
other manufacturers and found similar security faults, but did not list
any names.Once a printer was under his control, O’Connor said he would
be able to use it to map an organization’s internal network–a
situation that could help stage further attacks. The breach gave him
access to any of the information printed, copied or faxed from the
device. He could also change the internal job counter–which can
reduce, or increase, a company’s bill if the device is leased, he
said.The printer break-in also enables a number of practical jokes,
such as sending print and scan jobs to arbitrary workers’ desktops,
O’Connor said. Also, devices could be programmed to include, for
example, an image of a paper clip on every print, fax or copy,
ultimately driving office staffers to take the machine apart looking
for the paper clip.One of the weaknesses in the Xerox system is an
unsecured boot loader, the technology that loads the basic software on
the device, O’Connor said. Other flaws lie in the device’s Web
interface and in the availability of services such as the Simple
Network Management Protocol and Telnet, he said.O’Connor informed Xerox
of the problems in January. The company did issue a fix for its
WorkCentre 200 series, it said in a statement. “Thanks to Brendan’s
efforts, we were able to post a patch for our customers in mid-January
which fixes the issues,” a Xerox representative said in an e-mailed
statement.However, O’Connor believes the fix is inadequate, and
therefore he decided to make the presentation at Black Hat. The threat
is real, even though printers are mostly on internal networks, he said.
“There is always the insider threat,” O’Connor said.

[Author]

August 8, 2006 at 11:41 AM