Networked printers for years have left gaping holes in home and office network security . Today , experts continue to find Vulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability flaws in popular laser printers , which are putting businesses at risk . Experts at the University Alliance Ruhr recently announced Vulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability vulnerabilities in laser printers from manufacturers including Dell , HP , Lexmark , Samsung , Brother , and Konica . The flaws could permit print docs to be captured , allow buffer overflow exploits , disclose passwords , or cause printer damage . Up to 60,000 currently deployed printers could be vulnerable Vulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability , they estimate . When unprotected , printers expose users to several types of attacks , says Jeremiah Grossman , chief of security strategy at SentinelOne . Hackers can use vulnerabilities to capture old printer logs , which may contain sensitive information . They may also use these flaws to establish their foothold in a networked device and move laterally throughout the organization to gather data . Some attackers want to wreak havoc outside a single business . With networked printers under their control , a cybercriminal may use one company 's bandwidth to perform DDoS attacks on other organizations and individuals around the world . These examples are among the many types of damage that will continue to threaten security as part of the growing Internet of Things , Grossman predicts . `` Most of the time , printers are not going to be terribly different from any IoT device , '' he explains . Hackers who find Vulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability vulnerabilities in the web interface can take over , as they could for any device connected to the network . The difference , of course , is printers have been around far longer than most IoT products . This presents a market failure that will be difficult to correct because patches wo n't be made available Vulnerability-related.PatchVulnerability . Even when they are , devices wo n't be patched Vulnerability-related.PatchVulnerability often . Right now the easiest vectors include web hacking and email attacks , but they will move to IoT as computers and operating systems get more secure . Printers are low-hanging fruit , he says , and easier to target . He also recommends isolating printers on local networks , separate from PCs , and disabling out-of-network communication so even if they 're hacked , printers ca n't interact with adversaries outside the organization . Wingate suggests adopting the same baseline security practices businesses employ for computers ; for example , periodically update passwords so sensitive content is n't left in the open for people to steal . He also recommends intrusion detection , another practice people use for their PCs but do n't frequently employ on printers .