• • • • • There’s a serious security vulnerability on some HP LaserJet printers. The good news is that it’s been patched. The bad news is that you don’t know if your HP LaserJet printer needs the fix – because HP hasn’t told you. Late last year, owners of HP LaserJet printers were warned that their, because of a security vulnerability in the devices. Researchers at Columbia University demonstrated to reporters that it was possible for remote hackers to install malicious firmware on certain HP printers, without the owner necessarily realising that they were under attack. Although there was speculation that affected printers could also be fire hazards, that fear appears to have been overhyped – but there were genuine security concerns raised by the vulnerability.

When you buy a new computer, it usually comes with an operating system installed on a hard drive partition, but if you're building a computer or replacing a hard. HP LaserJet 1320 Printer Driver August 4, 2015 HP LaserJet Drivers. HP LaserJet 1320 Printer Driver, firmware, software downloads, install and fix printer driver problems for Windows and Macintosh Operating Systems.

Here’s a where the researchers discuss their discovery: The good news is that HP for affected printers on December 23, 2011. The bad news is that HP customers have no easy way of knowing if they might need it or not. The normal convention for companies disclosing a flaw, is to document which products are affected and what the risks are if the vulnerability is not patched.

That, after all, is useful information for customers and helps them decide if they need to take action. HP, however, hasn’t provided any details in their press release about which printers are impacted by the vulnerability – which means that you don’t know if you need to update your printer’s driver or not. Instead, HP recommends that LaserJet owners visit and select “Drivers”. Imagine the millions of people who could waste their time, looking for a driver update when it might be that their printer doesn’t require one. Wouldn’t it have been easy and much *better* for HP to have been a little more open about which of their products suffer from the security issue?

My suspicion is, sadly, that HP’s lack of information and low key response to the security vulnerability will simply mean that many LaserJet owners will be blissfully unaware that they could be at risk, and won’t look for a security update. Be honest – if you have an HP LaserJet, have you gone looking for a firmware update since December 23rd? Update:Many thanks to Naked Security’s superb readership, who have managed to dig out a on HP’s website. Of course, it would have been nice if it had been a little easier to find, or linked to from HP’s press release. Never mind, HP. Naked Security’s readers have done the job for you.

I received an email today at 6:30am EST: 'HP Support Alert! HP LaserJet Pro CM1415 Color MFP Series HP LaserJet Pro CP1525 Color Printer Series HP LaserJet Pro M1536 MFP Series A free firmware upgrade is required to keep your ePrint and Print Apps service working. Please go to: to download the newest firmware and continue using your ePrint solution. If you do not complete the upgrade, your ePrint and Print Apps may not work after Hewlett-Packard has finished a service upgrade on 1/15/2012. All other product features will continue to work as before. If you have questions, please contact HP Support at; Definitely not urgent sounding, or indicative of a security problem!

The main problem I see with HP is that it can already be a huge time-waster identifying which drivers work best for which of their models, especially in a diverse corporate network environment. A quick review of this page illustrates that issue: Now which driver did I pick to get that LaserJet working in the first place? HP PCL 6 Driver (non-UPD) HP LaserJet Plug and Play package Host-based Print/Scan Plug and Play HP LaserJet Basic Print and Scan HP LaserJet Host-based Basic Driver Alternate Windows Vista driver option (select models only) Windows Vista driver in compatibility mode (select models only) Then if all else fails, there is their Universal Print Driver package Who's using what? Does anyone need Postscript?

What functionality is used beyond simply printing? Wise Registry Cleaner Pro 5.94 Free Download on this page. Will updating a driver affect customized printing preferences or defaults?

Don't forget the shared drivers for other OSs. What if some printers are locally installed in my environment and not shared? Do I have all that accurately documented? In short, upgrading an HP driver can be a very very long way removed from 'Go to the HP website and click on drivers.' So I agree — a list of affected devices would have been extremely useful. But even then, how do I know that my device is vulnerable with the driver choice I used? Even better perhaps, releasing firmware upgrades for affected models so the problem could be fixed below the driver level would have been a much more practical fix for us mere customers.

What they neglect to mention to you is that, after this urgent firmware update, some functions will cease to operate as they had up to that point. When you complain and request some assistance, they will offer to help you for a mere $39. Or you may take it to a local service center.

Bosch Manual. Tell me how a company can release a firmware update to repair it's own security flaw, alter functions that had been working up to that point, then request payment to fix the issue?!? After having spent $400 on the printer, plus at least $1000 on toner over the last 16 months, I doubt I will ever be purchasing an HP product again. This is, at the very least incompetence, or at worst, extortion.