I was invited to participate in the 2017 HP Print Security Blogger Day in Palo Alto, California.

I accepted.

A blog series I have been wanting to create over the past several months is one on the so-called “Internet of Things”, or #IoT, which is rapidly devolving into a security nightmare. Especially for consumers.

However, businesses, and the enterprise are not immune to this already here malaise.

The massive October 2016 DDOS attack on the DNS company Dyn was an eye-opener. The vector used in that attack were a horde of unsecured security cameras.

“…unsecured security cameras...” Oh, the irony!

It almost seems like nary a week goes by when there isn’t disconcerting news of a breach somewhere from seemingly innocent, but inherently dangerous devices attached to the internet.

Not convinced?

Hello?

Your networked printer?

Your Printer is an Endpoint
In the November 2016 IDC whitepaper titled “The Printer Is an Endpoint: Proactively Addressing the Security Vulnerability”, the authors of the paper reveal some somber details about networked papers

Their research and analyses dovetails with the sense of foreboding I always feel when I see us plunging willy-nilly into this #IoT future without any thoughts of security being baked in, either by design, or subsequently.

What I want to see, and know
I am not asking a lot, just the following:

• I want to see what HP is doing to provide a secure printer OOBE.
• I want to see how HP will enable users to secure their printers.
• I want to see what HP is doing to allay my fears.
• Finally, I would like to know if HP printers are being hardened, by design.

This should be fun.

Stay tuned.

The document The Printer Is an Endpoint: Proactively Addressing the Security Vulnerability, IDC Doc #US41939416, can be found following the link above. Subscription required.

© 2002 – 2017, John Obeto for Blackground Media Unlimited