Xerox invented the Mouse...and gave it away...

Columbia Prof Calls Out HP : “It's like selling a car without selling the keys to lock it,”

“It may ultimately lead to telling everyone they just have to throw their printers out and start over,” he said. "Fixing this is going to require a very coordinated effort by the industry," Stolfo said.

It's Deja Vu, all over again.

First it was security breaches related to our hard drives.  Then it was the toner particles - as dangerous as toast.  Next toner bombs.

Today, a group of Colombia students and one very smart professor are ringing the warning bell.  This time, 50 million devices fall under the scrutiny of The Columbia University Intrusion Detection Systems Lab.

At first, I laughed. ALL HP printers are shipped "wide open" - I've seen it myself when in training, we intercepted print streams, changed the amount and the pay-to-the-order-of name and printed a check.

It's not that difficult, does not exclusively apply to HP and has been a known phenomena for decades.

And then there was the toner particle scare - great headlines, but in reality, toner dust is about as harmful as toast particles...snore...

And who will ever forget the plastic-explosive-in-the-HP-toner-cartridge trick, Al Kinda, pulled - genius.

Triumph!

No, really.  Check out the stripie guy's dual neck, thingie...