On 02/12/2011 10:56 PM, DanS wrote:
[snip] if you have a large size commercial
HP printer/copier, similar tot he one at work which is a
Minolta, not an HP.....it could be one that has a hard drive
on it that stores things it copies and print, basically
forever, until it's overwritten or purposely erased, usually
through some obscure front panel sequence.

It was a big to-do here, when the city's leased peripherals
were traded in, with city document still on them, on the HD.
These could have been just copiers however, but the
possibility stil remains.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/...gnews/main6412
439.shtml

Bottom line: printer security is not an issue IMO. (But network security
is.)

Many (pretty well all older) office type copier/printer/mufti-function
machines have hard drives (1), used to store the copy/print image while
multiple copies are made. Eventually the HDD fills up and FIFO takes
over as new print/copy jobs are done. Any security issue would arise at
a recycling depot where the machine is taken apart. The HDD could be
attached to a computer and its contents read. Forestall that by removing
it before sending the machine to the dumpster.

I note that the story that caused such a flurry was about using a glitch
in the printer's firmware to make the printer overheat. I don't see any
way to get data out of the machine without a hack of the printer's
firmware so that the printer sends the contents of the HDD to the
computer used to hack it. Considering there are so many easier ways to
get "sensitive data", including the good old cold-cash-in-greasy-palm
method, that I think it's hardly worth the trouble. But why bother?
Using a zombie to send print-job data to unauthorised recipients is just
another application, so to speak.

(1) I've noticed that recent ads for printers list how much RAM they have.

HTH
Wolf K.