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HP Printing

5 Tips to Secure your Printer fleet for free

by Philip Sellers January 27, 2017

So, you’re sufficiently concerned about security for your printing environment. What can you do to immediately improve your situation? And secondly, how much is it going to cost you? Let’s take a look at some general tips that you can accomplish with no additional expense.

Tip 1: Check for patches to your firmware and BIOS and patch your printers software.

This may seem like an obvious one, but the fact remains that a majority of companies do not have a regular patching plan for their printers. When talking with them about their servers and workstations, there are plans and procedures for patching and maintaining that software. When you talk with them about other infrastructure, like networking and storage, there is an awareness and proactivity to patch and upgrade these devices – for features and to rid themselves of bugs. But its not so for printers.

While on the topic, you should also ensure that you get your patches and upgrades directly from the vendor’s website. Third party sites could host modified firmware and BIOS that has malicious code. Relatively few printers checksum or validate their code before running it. It may be a good idea to audit and check the code running on your printers to ensure it is authentic and it has not been tampered with.

Tip 2: Disable any services that you do not require on the devices.

Just like companies have build standards for servers, networking and storage, your printers should also have a standard build profile. This profile should remove any unnecessary services and leave only the ones that are truly required by the company. For instance, did you know Telnet and FTP are often enabled on printers by default? When was the last time you needed to Telnet or FTP to a printer? Should you allow HTTP or only HTTPS? Develop a build document for standardizing your printer fleet. Disable any service that is not used or needed to avoid open doorways for malicious activity.

Tip 3: Change those default passwords!

This really should be second nature, but again, most companies do not have a build standard and therefore default passwords exist in the wild – in the wild and even connected directly to public IP addresses. So, the first line of defense is to change known passwords so that if your printer is ever made accessible, it is not an easy target with a known password. Also, adhere to your normal password policies for complexity and length to ensure a good password is installed on all of your devices.

Tip 4: Monitor your devices – tap into logs and/or SNMP

You should use SNMP to setup alerting from the device and also allow secure polling of the device from management software. While there have been a few known vulnerabilities in printers via SNMP, patching should allow you to safely implement SNMP for your printer fleet. SNMP should be configured to forward traps to your Security Information Event Management (SIEM) software and also to allow SIEM to poll and retrieve information from the device. The traps should alert you to conditions, and although capabilities my vary by vendor and printer, you should be able to find out when new code is loaded, when toner is running low and other useful conditions.

Secondly, if you have the ability to reach in and obtain the logs of the printer, this is valuable information from a forensics and analysis standpoint. The logs should have records for any new code added, any reboot requested, and should lead you with information about source IP and the account used for any of these operations. During my event with HP last week, the question was asked – “If a printer was used to compromise your network, would you know?” Monitoring is the only way to know.

Tip 5: Investigate printer specific monitoring and management software

Most printer vendors give away free monitoring and management software as a value-add to their customers. This software often becomes ‘shelf-ware’ and never gets implemented. That’s a critical mistake. The management software may be a big help in accomplishing all 4 of the prior tips. Rather than having to manually reconfigure and secure each printer, a free vendor software, such as HP’s Web Jetadmin, may be available for your use.

Ok, what next?

So, after implementing these tips, you can go further and deeper to secure your printing fleet. In HP’s case, they have a full suite of software under the JetAdvantage branding to help enterprises combat and ensure that their printer fleet is secure. For more information about those products, see http://www.hp.com/go/jetadvantage and check out my next blog post.

Disclaimer: HP, Inc., invited me to their Palo Alto headquarters and paid all expenses associated with this educational trip. This blog post is a result of that trip and the information shared, however, the information I have written in this post is solely written by me without any editorial input from HP.

January 27, 2017 0 comment

Are printers putting your network at risk?

by Philip Sellers January 27, 2017

written by Philip Sellers

Only a small percentage of companies think of printers when it comes to securing their network, leaving them vulnerable and susceptible to attacks. Print security? Is that really such a thing? Last week, I spent the day today with HP in Palo Alto, CA, learning about secure printing solutions within their portfolio. Why HP? To me, printing has always been synonymous with HP, even moreso after company split into two companies in 2015. The new HP, Inc., is focused specifically on printing and personal systems and it has one of the largest install bases of its printers in the world.

In many ways, printers were the original thing of IoT. Printers have been network connected for a couple decades now, but the fact that they have been stable and largely ‘just work’ allows people to take them for granted. That leaves printers unpatched and unsecured on networks, which could be a gateway for malicious activity. Add to the mix that printers are also unmonitored and you have a winning combination for hackers to play.

Printers have changed in recent years to keep up with the mobile revolution – adding WiFi, their own email addresses, connections to cloud services, and even apps inside of them – and the build-out of printers software has increased attack surface and the number of potential vulnerabilities. WiFi and wired connectivity on the same device makes it possible to bridge a network. WIRED posted a story almost 18 months ago that outlined hackers creatively using drones to fly phones and connect wirelessly to printers in an office building, then bridging the network, and injecting code for a backdoor onto the network while bypassing the company’s firewalls.

At the HP event, hacker Michael Calce, aka MafiaBoy, spoke with our group of bloggers. Calce was the infamous hacker who took down CNN and Yahoo in 2000 using a distributed denial of service (DDOS) attack. It was unlike anything the Internet had seen before and Calce was only 15. Some years later, Calce switched sides and became a security consultant – advising and providing penetration test services to customers.

Calce spoke for a long time about the mindset of a hacker. “Hackers don’t think the same as regular people,” he reiterated multiple times during his presentation and during discussions throughout the day. The mindset of a hacker is first to understand how you are going to use technology, but then to find ways to circumvent and utilize it for their own purposes. During his first years of hacking, it was all about ‘look at me’ and showing off. Today, however, the goal of hacking is all about monetary gain and these hackers have found funding from sponsor states and free reign to do their bidding. In short, they’re incented.

The main piece of advice from Calce for companies to to educate their employees. According to him, employees are the weakest link and without fail, social engineering and spear phishing are his go-to methods for infiltrating companies during pen-tests. Education programs can come in many shapes and forms, but the primary intent is awareness and changing employee behavior to be more cautious about attachments, documents, and links they receive.

Most hackers, according to Calce, are not coming through your front door or your back door. He likened it to bank robbers – they aren’t breaking into your bank through the doorways, they are coming in through creative ways – cutting through walls or under floors. And the same is true for your network. Hackers are looking for opportunistic ways to get in through easier methods that are not protected. Printers and other connected devices are easy targets for those attacks since they are not secured like other parts of the network.

Printers are an endpoint, just like your PC, Servers, storage and network equipment. So, what are you to do? I’ve got 5 ways you can improve your printer security for free. Check out my next blog post.

Disclaimer: HP, Inc., invited me to this blogger tech day and paid for my travel and hotel accommodations. This blog post, however, is my own views and opinions based on the information that was presented. HP did not review or advise what to say or how to say it – these are my own words.

January 27, 2017 0 comment

Printing

HP Inc. revamps printing lineup and introduces PageWide brand

by Philip Sellers March 8, 2016

written by Philip Sellers

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The slimmed down HP Inc. today unveiled a new lineup of revamped business-focused printers including the introduction of a brand new brand of office printers to be known with the PageWide brand. The announcement is expansive, with the introduction of 15 new printer models and a set of Secure Managed Print services from the company. Packed into the announcement is a major focus on security of printers included in the new print models. Let’s dive into each of the areas in more detail.

Security

There’s a growing concern that devices that make up the Internet of Things (IoT) will become a hotbed for malware and attacks. In fact, 60% of companies have had a data breach involving printers according to the “Insecurity of Network-Connected Printers” study that Ponemon Institute published in October 2015. Updates and patching become incredibly important to secure these devices the same way we have attempted to keep our computers secure.

According to HP, today’s printers more closely resemble computers and are increasingly more connected. Today’s printers aren’t just networked, they have email accounts and are directly connected to the Internet. They are cloud integrated with services backing the choices on the display panels. But even with the innovation and increased capabilities, security has largely been an afterthought, and capable processors and lax security make for a hackers playground. HP realizes this and has been at work with solutions and a change of mindset about printers to try and head off issues.

The first way HP is attempting to address issues is with push updates. The percentage of companies that update printer firmware is small, but HP hopes to change that with a direct from the Internet update capable on new printers. The update feature is powered by software on board the printer, but security professionals may pause and wonder if this is wise to do. Is it possible to simply inject malicious updates and auto-deploy them across an entire enterprise? No so fast, says HP.

The enterprise printers announced today include a security technology called HP SureStart. In September 2015, HP introduced three LaserJet printers that use HP SureStart technology to protect the printer’s BIOS. If the HP SureStart name sounds familiar, it is a security feature that was introduced into the HP Elitebook line of professional laptops back in 2014, that HP has brought to its printer lineup.

HP SureStart is a secure BIOS that stores both the current and a previous version of the BIOS. SureStart detects tampering and malware attacks on the BIOS and will revert to saved, good BIOS version to ensure that the basic firmware of the hardware is not compromised. HP calls it self-healing.

Not only are the updates meant to be for security, they also provide a consistent user interfaces across the printer fleet. HP FutureSmart is a push from HP to establish a consistent user experience across all of its enterprise printers and enable the same walk-up features no matter where you go in the organization and this capability is also included in the enterprise printers announced today.

Secure Managed Print Services

Building on the HP SureStart, HP has created an ensemble of services to create Secure Managed Print Services. The self-healing capabilities of the printers with HP SureStart is the foundation of the secure print services, but it also combines security software to detect threats, protect, monitor and manage the printer fleet and provide reporting for regulatory and compliance audits. Secure Managed Print Services also includes a strong component of security consulting from the experts at HP to device a comprehensive print security plan. Finally, the services also allow for data encryption to provide protection for confidential information.

As part of the announcement, HP introduced an updated version of HP JetAdvantage Security manager, a software that allows for policy-based printer security. This software provides much of the reporting, auditing and compliance enforcement capabilities for the Secure MPS.

HP also announced that its Enterprise printers will now be able to be monitoring using Splunk.

HP PageWide Printers

In perhaps the biggest news, HP introduce a new brand of printers – the HP PageWide line. PageWide has been used by HP to describe the printing technology of the HP OfficeJet Pro X line as well as the brand name of some specialty large-format printers, like the PageWide XL line, over the last several years. Now, HP is borrowing the name of its wide print bar to be the brand name for the printers that use it.

PageWide printers will come in two major categories – Pro and Enterprise. HP introduced two PageWide Enterprise printers today – the PageWide Enterprise Color 586 multifunction and the PageWide Enterprise Color 556 single function printer. Enterprise models will be the most full featured models and include options to essentially replace copiers and multifunction with floor stands and other accessories. There are also additional software capabilities in the Enterprise models, including integration with HP Flow print control services.

The PageWide Pro models will be focused on small to medium business and branch office solutions and are split into 3 series – the 300, 400 and 500 series. The major difference between each series is speed. The 300 series features printers with up to 30 pages per minute (ppm) in Professional print mode and 45 ppm in General Office mode (HP PageWide’s version of draft mode – but don’t think low quality here – it is still very high quality). The 400 series features 40 ppm in Professional print mode and 55ppm in General Office mode. While the fastest printers are in the 500 series, rated at 50 ppm in Professional and 70 ppm in General Office mode. The 500 series also offers a series of accessories to convert the printer into a floor model with additional drawers for paper types and job accounting and PIN printing on the front console. All of the new PageWide Pro printers feature a single-pass duplexing scanner rated at 26 ppm. HP has released a multifunction printer and single-function printer in each series today.

The new PageWide brand will replace the Pro X moniker that HP initially introduced for its business-class printers using the PageWide print bar. The new brand will differentiate the print technology that uses the wide print bar and pigment inks versus all of its business ink printers in the OfficeJet line that use moving print heads and traditional inks. HP sees the PageWide brand sitting in between the LaserJet and OfficeJet families – providing the lowest cost per page of any of its business-class printers, along with the least amount of waste generated and least amount of energy used.

Below are slides with details of the new printers are below to provide more information for the entire lineup:

OfficeJet Pro Additions

HP also introduced several new models in the OfficeJet Pro category, targeted at small business with up to 5 users sharing a printer. These print models target small office environments and specific use cases, such as legal documents and mobile printing. All of the new OfficeJet printers announced replace existing models that HP is retiring in the lineup. Details on the models and their specs in the slides below.

LaserJet Additions

For the LaserJet line, HP introduced two new printers today – the HP LaserJet Pro M501 – a monochrome laser printer targeted at 5 to 15 users and the HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M377dw – targeted at 3 to 10 users with multifunction capabilities. Both are brand new products, not replacing existing products in the lineup.

March 8, 2016 0 comment