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Why Print Security Matters

Printers are devices on the network and they need to be secured as part of a greater cybersecurity strategy.

In March 2016, black hat hacker Andrew Auernheimer, better known by the alias “weev,” gained access to nearly 30,000 Internet-connected printers – many of them on university campuses across the country – and instructed them to print anti-Semitic and racist fliers. Auernheimer claimed he used a freely available tool to scour the Internet for vulnerable devices and was able to identify the printers he ultimately exploited within minutes. Only a few months later, in August 2016, Auernheimer launched a similar attack, this time hacking 50,000 printers.

The lesson: Printers are devices on the network and they need to be secured as part of a greater cybersecurity strategy.  

However, print security is often overlooked by government agencies. According to a June 2016 Center for Digital Government survey, 60 percent of state and local government agencies were not fully prepared against an attack on their print environment.

In October, Government Technology hosted a complementary webinar, featuring Aaron Scantlin, a security analyst at the University of Missouri-Columbia, to educate decision-makers on what the significant threats are to the print environment, why print security is often overlooked and how to create awareness. 

Learn more in the webinar archive.