> On Aug 30, 2015, at 9:24 PM, John Robinson <[email protected]> wrote: > > He called HP, they ask to get into his system, he let them. They said the > printer had spread a virus to the Mac and they had removed it. > > True? > > Can a Mac be infected from a HP printer?
First, it is possible the printer was infected with something. It has been known for several years that HP printers can be infected by viruses off the Internet. This is because, until very recently, HP had no network security on their printer, and millions of older printers have no security and never will. The problem is so bad that an HP printer can be infected just by sending it an appropriate file to print. They have their ports wide open — including telnet — and there is no security check on firmware updates, so anybody can install anything. HP has had its head buried in the sand on this issue for years. But, second, I’m highly skeptical of the claim the printer infected the Mac. I’ve seen nothing on any of the standard security sites about such problems. The HP guys would have to be pretty good Mac hackers to remotely diagnose and remove a virus from your wife’s printer. HP has never been known for having really intelligent Mac people on their help lines. _______________________________________________ MacGroup mailing list [email protected] http://www.math.louisville.edu/mailman/listinfo/macgroup
