The office printer is a dark place for many. It normally sits in the musty corner of the office, the place everybody hates to go, but has to go when paper needs duplicating. Nobody will ever mention it, but it’s usually good practice to never touch the glass top by hand as there may be some rear DNA smeared all over it. If only there was something that could help pass the time while waiting for all those copies to complete…
Thankfully, there may well be! A hacker by the name of Michael Jordon (not the basketball player) has gone ahead and tricked a Canon Pixma printer into running the original Doom game.
Sure, it must be an absolute nightmare to play, but DOOM ON A PRINTER PEOPLE! One would think this sort of thing was done for some good old fashioned giggles. It wasn’t. Jordon is trying to show just how much of a security vulnerability a printer can be (PC Gamer via The Guardian).
“While you can trigger a firmware update you can also change the web proxy settings and the DNS server. If you can change these then you can redirect where the printer goes to check for a new firmware.”
“So what protection does Canon use to prevent a malicious person from providing a malicious firmware? In a nutshell – nothing, there is no signing (the correct way to do it) but it does have very weak encryption.”
Well, I honestly never expected something like that. I have just covered my printer with a blanket because I fear Skynet might be watching my every move! Let’s not forget that Doom was also made to run on an ATM. Ok everybody, stop placing the game on every piece of hardware. You are making Skynet’s job so much easier…
Thankfully, Canon are aware of the issue, and will be providing a fix (via Context):
“We thank Context for bringing this issue to our attention; we take any potential security vulnerability very seriously. At Canon we work hard at securing all of our products, however with diverse and ever-changing security threats we welcome input from others to ensure our customers are as well protected as possible.
We intend to provide a fix as quickly as is feasible. All PIXMA products launching from now onwards will have a username/password added to the PIXMA web interface, and models launched from the second half of 2013 onwards will also receive this update, models launched prior to this time are unaffected. This action will resolve the issue uncovered by Context.”
Good job Canon! It does make you wonder what other pieces of hardware might pose security threats though. Honestly, a printer was the last thing I would have thought of. I can’t even look my keyboard in the eye anymore. Every keystroke could well be sending information to Skynet itself!
Last Updated: September 16, 2014
Galbedir
September 16, 2014 at 13:04
By Odins Raven!
Alien Emperor Trevor
September 16, 2014 at 13:09
But can it play Crysis?
hairyknees
September 16, 2014 at 13:19
Maybe in another decade or two 😛 heck that would be amazing!
Admiral Chief Assassin
September 16, 2014 at 13:45
LOOOOOOOOOOOOOL
th3SiCn3ss
September 16, 2014 at 13:22
& dis hoe dit lyk as ‘n lcd screentjie kots…….
Hammersteyn
September 16, 2014 at 13:22
Imagine getting the call in that IT department
RinceThis
September 16, 2014 at 13:37
My printer can’t see my computer, but it is able to use shotguns and other weapons 0_O
Admiral Chief Assassin
September 16, 2014 at 13:45
BWahahahahahahahahaah
th3SiCn3ss
September 16, 2014 at 13:37
specially at the mweb support…..
• user: hello it. dept my printer is showing doom…
• tech: have you tried turning it on & off again?
• user: yes but it still shows doom
• tech: can you ID the software for me? 🙂
• user: it’s called firmware, how did you get a job here????
• tech: firmware?? isn’t that a speedo?
Kromas of City17
September 16, 2014 at 13:44
Mweb support sicness is far from telkom support. They will tell you its not their fault then escalate the ticket and call you back 5 months later to ask if it is resolved.
Also …. BF4 tonight?
th3SiCn3ss
September 16, 2014 at 14:47
hehehe you mean BF4 kuck sake!!!! how did he knife me while I’m flying…..
dylbobjohnjoe
September 17, 2014 at 10:25
“You have a problem with your line? It might be our side, but we aren’t trained to find out, would you like us to send a technician over? It will just cost you your firstborn if he cant find the problem, also, can you be at home 8am to 5pm until the second coming? No? Thank you for calling telkom.”
AndrewJacksonZA
September 16, 2014 at 14:47
“ID the software?” I see what you did there… 😉
th3SiCn3ss
September 16, 2014 at 14:48
well done my good sir…..
malK
September 16, 2014 at 14:06
For the love of god, nobody print “iddqd”
RinceThis
September 16, 2014 at 13:36
I would love to know what kind of printer Martha is made to use… 0_O
Anon A Mouse
September 16, 2014 at 13:59
Martha first sniffs the class before using it anyway.
RinceThis
September 16, 2014 at 14:46
What, the whole class? Or just the naughty ones? 0_O
Anon A Mouse
September 16, 2014 at 14:49
Hahaha, glass, class, cabbage, same thing.
RinceThis
September 16, 2014 at 15:07
Bwahaha 😉
WarframedSquirrel
September 16, 2014 at 13:49
“All PIXMA products launching from now onwards will have a username/password added to the PIXMA web interface” They didn’t have that already? LOL… doesn’t matter really, 9/10 people don’t change the default password on their devices anyway.
hairyknees
September 16, 2014 at 13:51
QUIET YOU! SKYNET COULD BE LISTENING!
RinceThis
September 16, 2014 at 13:56
Username: Admin
Password: Password?
Anon A Mouse
September 16, 2014 at 13:58
Username: Username
Password: Password1
There fixed it for you, and now I have to go and change my banking log in details.
HvR
September 16, 2014 at 14:01
That is how The Admiral prints pictures of his little corporal on printers all over the world.
Anon A Mouse
September 16, 2014 at 13:57
The basketball player is Michael Jordan not Jordon by the way.
hairyknees
September 16, 2014 at 15:25
I know 🙂 but people might get confused xD
Ross Woofels Mason
September 16, 2014 at 14:33
I’ve been working in print for over 10 years now and have to say canon be it small or large format make some of the worst printers ever in comparison to HP & EPSON (even though they make great camera’s and other stuff.)
However if they start shipping these out with DOOM on them, I might start using them =p
rollingmol
September 16, 2014 at 21:03
How do you press IDDQD for god mode 🙂
DrKiller
September 17, 2014 at 22:24
Web Interface?? Does my printer have a web interface? O.o