Open SSID for HP printers

Jan 03, 2014 3 Replies

I went walking around my neighborhood scanning for open wifi hotspots and found several HP printers. Does that mean that someone could park outside the place and a long stream of documents to the printer(s)?



Look on the bright side. They can't retrieve the printing unless they break into your house.

Michael

I must not have made myself clear. I wonder whether a person who has his printer setup as open could be victimized by someone outside sending stuff to the open printer.

In my search for open sites I saw that some sites came up as open and were HP printers. I don't know where they are, they are just somewhere and open.

Root-

Obviously someone could do that. Damage might be limited by how much paper is in the printer, or how quickly the owner could react if nearby.

Many wireless printers come with their WiFi set up in ad-hoc mode. HP also has their "Wi-Fi Direct" mode. You can connect directly to them unless they have been paired with a WiFi router.

I think what you are seeing are wireless printers that are either connected by a USB cable instead of WiFi, or are being used with iPhones that have their internet connection through the phone company.

The owners may not be aware that the printer's WiFi is open! Anyone that has such a printer should at least set the WiFi to require a password.

Fred

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