Woody Leonhard | InfoWorld, 29 Nov 2011 Flaw in HP's printer firmware update procedures could expose your company's printers to hackers. Here are the steps you should take to protect them http://www.infoworld.com/t/hacking/security-researchers-say-hp-printers-vuln... selected text: MSNBC released an "exclusive" report quoting two Columbia University researchers as saying that millions of HP printers are open to potentially devastating online hacks. While the security holes appear to be very real, there's a great deal of question about whether the attacks could ever be implemented in a real-world situation -- and there are steps you can take at your corporate firewall right now to mitigate the threat. The fundamental problem stems from the way HP printers validate firmware updates prior to applying them. Or more accurately, the way HP printers don't bother to validate firmware updates prior to applying them. The demo referenced in the MSNBC report involved an HP printer's fuser. The altered firmware turned the fuser on and left it on, browning the paper and throwing off smoke, before the printer's thermal interrupt kicked in. ------------------------------