Items tagged with printer
The astutely named PrintNightmare family of issues affecting many Windows devices is not going away for Microsoft, it seems. Though there have been numerous patches and updates, not all have been fixes for the print spooler issues. This is the case once more following this month’s Patch Tuesday update, which has been confirmed to break network printing in some cases. As of late, Microsoft is reporting that “After installing KB5005033 or a later update, certain printers in some environments using Point and Print might receive a prompt saying, ‘Do you trust this printer?’” When this happens, administrator credentials are required to install the printer every time...
Read more...
Hey, good news, in case you missed it—Microsoft earlier this week announced it has completed its investigation of an annoyingly persistent printer exploit, and issued a series of patches to get rid of the problem. Ready for the bad news? Another similar security vulnerability has reared its ugly head, and Microsoft doesn't have a patch for it just yet. This latest vulnerability is another so-called PrintNightmare bug. These affect the Windows Print Spooler service, and if exploited, and attacker could run malicious code on an affected system with advanced privileges, or wreak other kinds of havoc (like deleting or altering files). That's obviously not a good thing. "A remote code execution...
Read more...
There are few things more frustrating than dealing with a printer issue. Like dealing with repeated printer issues. Unfortunately for some Windows 10 users, the problems keep coming, the latest one arriving with the cumulative update for July that arrived earlier this month. Depending on a person's setup, this month's Patch Tuesday roll out could cause printing and scanning capabilities to no longer function. Fortunately, the latest printer issue appears limited to some specific setups. However, that does not come as any consolation to anyone is affected by it. "After installing updates released July 13, 2021 on domain controllers (DCs) in your environment, printers, scanners, and multifunction...
Read more...
Remember that scene in Office Space where a trio of disgruntled employees take a problematic printer to field and beat it to a pulp? Anyone who has ever dealt with stubborn printer issues has probably felt that way. It doesn't help that we also have to worry about printer vulnerabilities messing up our day, and to that end, Microsoft has warned of yet another one. The latest printer bug is being tracked as CVE-2021-34481. It has to do with the Windows Print Spooler service, and without a patch in place, a nefarious actor could potentially gain unfettered access to an affected system. At that point, they could install malware, swipe sensitive data, and worst of all, rearrange your carefully aligned...
Read more...
Despite all the advancements made in computing, even today the printer can still an extreme source of frustration. Usually it's because the network refuses to recognize the darn thing, and sometimes it's because the printer obsesses over a low ink level and stubbornly refuses to print. But more recently, a bug in Windows 10 was causing blue screen of death (BSOD) errors when attempting to print documents. Fortunately, the issue has been resolved, if you know where to look. The initial bug was introduced with this month's Patch Tuesday update, via KB5000802 and KB5000808. For some, these were automatically downloaded and applied to their Windows 10 PCs. However, some users quickly began complaining...
Read more...
A group of hackers claims to have a service that will allow anyone willing to spend $250 to send out a "marketing" campaign that can reach "every single printer in the world." The people are offering to sell advertisers a spot in "the most viral ad campaign in history" according to the advertisement for the service. Security experts the world over have had concerns about the security of Internet of Things (IoT) devices and the security of web-connected printers specifically. HP has in the past offered $10,000 in bug bounty money to get white hat hackers to find bugs in its printers. We also talked in depth about some of the security hazards that the IoT posed last year. Hackers have taken advantage...
Read more...
Back in the day, the way most people took photos was with a Polaroid instant camera of the sort that shot pictures out the front for you to watch develop before your eyes. That good old shake and wait just a minute Polaroid almost instant gratification is making a bit of a comeback with some retro photography fans, but today most people take pictures with their smartphones. Today, however, Motorola has unveiled a new Moto Mod for the Moto Z family of smartphones that is called the Polaroid Insta-Share Printer, that could offer the best of both worlds. Motorola writes, "Simply snap the mod on your moto z, click the physical button to launch the camera and take a picture, then print right...
Read more...
Just yesterday, we posted a story concerning printer security and how we should take it more seriously given IoT botnets that are swooping across the globe (namely Mirai), along with the sensitive data and documents these machines are custodians of. Today’s printers have relatively potent processors, complex operating systems and of course connect to the internet, to enable remote printing and firmware updates (among other things). Unsurprisingly, though the timing is impeccable, a hacker by the name of Stackoverflowin’ just made the case for increased security with it comes to printers. Stackoverflowin’ revealed to Bleeping Computer that he has gone on a tirade for the past 24 hours via...
Read more...
Take a look at your printer. Give it a good stare. Do you trust it? Probably not, considering it jammed the last time you had to print an important paper right up against a deadline. However, what if we told you that your printer just has to sit there on your network to be a very serious security problem? HP Inc. recently hosted a tech field day for us, and several other security-focused journalists, at their headquarters in Palo Alto. We will speak to some of the panels we listened in on as we go, but the goal for HP at this event was to raise awareness around security - particularly where printers are concerned - and it's an important topic regardless of the brand of printing device you're...
Read more...
Over the weekend, we reported that Hewlett-Packard had made the unsavory move of essentially bricking scores of third-party ink cartridges that were in use in customers’ printers. HP’s rather brazen move was easy to track down since it programmed its printer firmware to throw up an error message on September 13th, meaning that thousands of customers experienced ink cartridge failures at the exact same time. HP is now coming clean about its move that had angered some customers. The company released a statement to the Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS), which is part of the Netherlands Public Broadcasting system. HP stated that it made changes to the firmware in a number of its printers in order...
Read more...
HP just made a rather large acquisition -- the company announced that it is purchasing Samsung’s printer business for $1.05 billion. The agreement was presented at Samsung Electronics’ Board of Directors meeting in Seoul, South Korea. Dion Weisler, president and CEO of HP, remarked, “When we became a separate company just 10 months ago, it enabled us to become nimble and focus on accelerating growth and reinventing industries...The acquisition of Samsung’s printer business allows us to deliver print innovation and create entirely new business opportunities with far better efficiency, security, and economics for customers.”Samsung will spin off its Printing Business Unit into a separate company...
Read more...
3D printing has caught on in a way that few really expected. What began as a niche hobby for technology lovers has spilled over into the mainstream, with 3D printers now available for under $1,000 and finding shelf space at brick-and-mortar retailers. We're only starting to see the fruits of labor from those who are dreaming up what items to print with plastic, but one hot-button issue that has arisen is 3D-printed firearms. It was only a matter of time before someone realized that a printer could produce a pistol, but early prints have proven to be of little threat. Why? Because traditional ammunition essentially destroys the printed firearm after a single shot, plus, misfires are common. In...
Read more...
Every so often, there's a product category that truly transcends, and you can tell from the get-go that it's going to have a massive impact on society if given enough time. 3D printing is one of those things. It has already taken off in the hacker / Maker-space, and there are plenty of Kickstarter success stories surrounding the world of 3D printing. Now, however, we're starting to see these devices cross over into the mainstream, and perhaps save a store that has become increasingly irrelevant now that Amazon, NewEgg and a host of other e-tailers exist. Office Depot has just announced that it will soon begin stocking the Cube and the CubeX, two 3D printers that have previously been available...
Read more...
Samsung's product portfolio is about as varied as it comes. Yes, Samsung is perhaps best known for its TVs and Galaxy line of handsets and tablets, but it also sells laptops, media players, camcorders, media cards, monitors, Blu-ray players, and even an extensive range of home appliances, such as refrigerators and dishwashers. Did you know Samsung sells printers, too? It does, and it reportedly tried to buy Sharp's copier and printer business. According to Reuters, Sharp rejected Samsung's offer to buy its copier and printer business before agreeing on a deal that saw Samsung invest $110 million into Sharp for a 3 percent stake of the company. "We did get a proposal from Samsung, but we declined,"...
Read more...
Hewlett-Packard this week announced the releases of its new and exceptionally fast HP Officejet Pro X printer. How fast, you ask? It's the world's speediest printer as recognized by Guinness World Records! More specifically, it can spit out black and white prints (which HP calls "high quality professional documents") at up to 70 pages per minute (PPM) - yowza! There's some serious bragging rights available if you're a printer enthusiast, though the Officejet Pro X is really intended for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) as a faster, cheaper alternative to laser printers. According to HP, the Officejet Pro X, along with two other Officejet Pro models -- the Officejet Pro 251dw and Officejet...
Read more...
3D printing is a fascinating new technology and an exploding new market. The process involved is pretty basic actually. Heat up some plastic, and sort of like that Play-Doh Fun Factory you were so fond of as a kid, you extrude the melted plastic out to create objects of magnificence -- because you built it yourself. However, 3D printers are much more akin to their cousin the 2D inkjet printer, though objects are being printed not only on the traditional X-Y plane but with that magical third "Z" dimension of height. In addition, advancements in 3D CAD software packages like Google SketchUp (now a product of Trimble) are making it increasingly easier for the novice DIY designer...
Read more...
We’ve made no secret of the fact that we’re enamored of 3D printing--all the more after visiting Maker Faire 2012 a couple of months ago--so a new 3D printer joining the market is something that piques our interest. Solidoodle, a company that has grown to 60 employees after a year in the 3D printer-making business, announced its third-generation Solidoodle 3D Printer, and the price tag is a comparatively low $799. For as inexpensive as the new Solidoodle 3 is, the company’s second-gen printer (which is still available) actually costs just $499, which is an astounding price for a 3D printer. However, this latest iteration offers twice the cubic volume with printable dimensions...
Read more...
Considering a career change? You may want to see if Dunder Mifflin is hiring. A piece of malware first discovered in 2010 is making the rounds, and it's wreaking havoc on thousands of office printers, resulting in pages of "garbled printouts" and reams of wasted paper. It's a "paper saleman's dream come true," Symantec says. Trojan.Milicenso, as the culprit is called, compromises computers via traditional means, such as through email attachments and/or visiting websites hosting malicious scripts. In the case of the latter, it usually occurs when an office worker clicks on a link in an unsolicited email, thus breaking one of the cardinal rules of common sense computing practices. Image Source:...
Read more...
Canon today announced its PIXMA MX892 Wireless Office All-In-One (AIO) printer, the new flagship model that purports to do everything under the sun, including spitting out documents and images it receives from the cloud and other compatible portable devices. It does this through Google Cloud Print and Canon's own PIXMA Cloud Link. "With users increasingly utilizing the cloud to store important documents and images, it is imperative to provide an easy way for these materials to be printed easily when they are needed," said Yuichi Ishizuka, executive vice president and general manager, Imaging Technologies & Communications Group, Canon U.S.A. "The variety of connectivity options supported by...
Read more...
Earlier this year, HP took a serious amount of flack for some crazy "exploding printer" hoopla that the company swears was never true to begin with. But, there was still an issue with unauthorized access, which the company has just taken action to resolve. On Nov. 29, HP announced that the potential existed for a certain type of unauthorized access to some HP LaserJet printers and confirmed it has received no customer reports of unauthorized access. HP today issued the following statement: HP has built a firmware update to mitigate this issue and is communicating this proactively to customers and partners. No customer has reported unauthorized access to HP. HP reiterates its recommendation to...
Read more...
Is there such thing as an affordable laser printer? Well sure, even ones that print in color. What about a 3D scanner? Those tend to run several hundred dollars, and can easily creep into four-digit territory. So imagine what a color laser printer with 3D scanning functionality baked in would run. Conventional wisdom says such a device would cost and arm and a leg, but Hewlett Packard has something else in mind. HP recently unveiled its TopShot LaserJet Pro M275, the company's very first color multi-function printer (MFP) with TopShot scanning that lets you scan, copy, and print from a single device. But what really sets this thing apart is it's capable of scanning 3D objects. Why would you want...
Read more...
Canon went and kicked out a couple of new wireless (802.11n certified) all-in-one photo printers, the Pixma MG8220 and MG6220. These versatile printers do more than print out TPS reports and family photos, they also let you scan and copy images, as well as send print commands over your wireless connection, even from your smartphone. The top-end Pixma MG8220 can spit out a 4-inch x 6-inch borderless photo in as little as 20 seconds and is rated at 12.5 ipm for black-and-white documents, and 9.3 imp for color. It supports a maximum color resolution of 9600 x 2400 dpi, comes equipped with a 3.5-inch LCD screen, a two-way paper feed, and is the only current Canon Pixma model with a Film Adapter Unit....
Read more...
