HP denies media report hackers can fire up its laser printers
Citing a published report, the company said, “No customer has reported unauthorized access” to its printers and concerns they’re a fire hazard “aren’t valid.”
Hewlett-Packard Co. has called invalid a media report that hackers could take control of its laser printers and make them catch fire, Bloomberg News reports today. In a Nov. 29 statement the company said, “No customer has reported unauthorized access” and “those concerns aren’t valid.”
The MSNBC.com news site, citing researchers at Columbia University, had said some Hewlett-Packard LaserJet printers were vulnerable to attack. It’s likely that hackers could seize control of the devices and make them catch fire or use them to penetrate otherwise-secure networks, MSNBC said, according to Bloomberg News.
Hewlett-Packard acknowledged, however, that some LaserJet printers have a “potential security vulnerability,” which the company is working to fix.
Hewlett-Packard Co., of Palo Alto, Calif., ranks No. 7 on Washington Technology’s 2011 Top 100 list of the largest federal government contractors.
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