Author Topic: Samsung & Dell Printers backdoor (Read 9869 times)

Tinman57 · « **on:** November 28, 2012, 06:55 PM »

Samsung printers contain hardcoded backdoor account, US-CERT warns

Printers manufactured by Samsung have a backdoor administrator account hard coded in their firmware that could enable attackers to change their configuration, read their network information or stored credentials and access sensitive information passed to them by users.
http://www.pcworld.c...nt-uscert-warns.html

Renegade · « **Reply #1 on:** November 28, 2012, 06:59 PM »

But but but but... it's for you safety!

I wonder in what universe is that a good idea?

40hz · « **Reply #2 on:** November 28, 2012, 07:01 PM »

But but but but... it's for you safety!

I wonder in what universe is that a good idea?
-Renegade (November 28, 2012, 06:59 PM)

China.

TaoPhoenix · « **Reply #3 on:** November 28, 2012, 07:08 PM »

But but but but... it's for you safety!

I wonder in what universe is that a good idea?
-Renegade (November 28, 2012, 06:59 PM)

China.
-40hz (November 28, 2012, 07:01 PM)

China is a universe?!

4wd · « **Reply #4 on:** November 28, 2012, 07:10 PM »

I wonder in what universe is that a good idea?
-Renegade (November 28, 2012, 06:59 PM)

China.
-40hz (November 28, 2012, 07:01 PM)

Really, I would have expected more from you 40!

How does answering China bolster Renegades conspiracy theories?

The correct answer is the US Government

TaoPhoenix · « **Reply #5 on:** November 28, 2012, 07:13 PM »

Hmm. My printer is Samsung, but last I knew it wasn't live connected to the net. So how would an attacker get to the back door? Is it only some models?

4wd · « **Reply #6 on:** November 28, 2012, 07:25 PM »

Hmm. My printer is Samsung, but last I knew it wasn't live connected to the net. So how would an attacker get to the back door? Is it only some models?
-TaoPhoenix (November 28, 2012, 07:13 PM)

That chip in the ink cartridges that they tell you is to monitor levels actually monitors all connected computers, (including USB).

Then when you throw out or recycle the old cartridge, the government collects the information stored on that chip.

TaoPhoenix · « **Reply #7 on:** November 28, 2012, 07:29 PM »

Hmm. My printer is Samsung, but last I knew it wasn't live connected to the net. So how would an attacker get to the back door? Is it only some models?
-TaoPhoenix (November 28, 2012, 07:13 PM)

That chip in the ink cartridges that they tell you is to monitor levels actually monitors all connected computers, (including USB).

Then when you throw out or recycle the old cartridge, the government collects the information stored on that chip.
-4wd (November 28, 2012, 07:25 PM)

Renegade · « **Reply #8 on:** November 28, 2012, 07:35 PM »

China is a universe?!
-TaoPhoenix (November 28, 2012, 07:08 PM)

Well, at a very minimum...

China.
-4wd (November 28, 2012, 07:10 PM)

Really, I would have expected more from you 40!

How does answering China bolster Renegades conspiracy theories?
[/quote]

Hey! It's called "conspiracy history/news/facts".

And I haven't made any Hollow Earth jokes in a while.

The correct answer is the US Government
-4wd (November 28, 2012, 07:10 PM)

Though at the moment, I think there are fewer and fewer differences.

Renegade · « **Reply #9 on:** November 28, 2012, 07:38 PM »

Hmm. My printer is Samsung, but last I knew it wasn't live connected to the net. So how would an attacker get to the back door? Is it only some models?
-TaoPhoenix (November 28, 2012, 07:13 PM)

That chip in the ink cartridges that they tell you is to monitor levels actually monitors all connected computers, (including USB).

Then when you throw out or recycle the old cartridge, the government collects the information stored on that chip.
-4wd (November 28, 2012, 07:25 PM)

There goes my monopoly on crazy conspiracy ~~theories~~ news/fact/history.

(But seriously - do you have any links for that? I somehow doubt that anyone would invest in enough memory to make it remotely useful like that. However, I've seen crazier stuff with lots of evidence to back it up. Stuff so crazy that no matter how much evidence there is, I'm still baffled at it.)

4wd · « **Reply #10 on:** November 28, 2012, 07:59 PM »

(But seriously - do you have any links for that?
-Renegade (November 28, 2012, 07:38 PM)

Damnit!

Forgot the

Tinman57 · « **Reply #11 on:** November 28, 2012, 08:05 PM »

There goes my monopoly on crazy conspiracy ~~theories~~ news/fact/history. (But seriously - do you have any links for that? I somehow doubt that anyone would invest in enough memory to make it remotely useful like that. However, I've seen crazier stuff with lots of evidence to back it up. Stuff so crazy that no matter how much evidence there is, I'm still baffled at it.)
-Renegade (November 28, 2012, 07:38 PM)

My cell phone memory card is smaller than my thumb-nail and holds 16Gb. That's a whole lot of information that can be stored, especially if stored in a text format.

Renegade · « **Reply #12 on:** November 28, 2012, 08:14 PM »

(But seriously - do you have any links for that?
-Renegade (November 28, 2012, 07:38 PM)

Damnit!

Forgot the
-4wd (November 28, 2012, 07:59 PM)

Wasn't completely sure if you were joking or not. I quite literally have seen much stranger things.

My cell phone memory card is smaller than my thumb-nail and holds 16Gb. That's a whole lot of information that can be stored, especially if stored in a text format.
-Tinman57 (November 28, 2012, 08:05 PM)

True enough, but I'm thinking about the cost. Would they spend the extra? It's not the size so much as the $$$.

f0dder · « **Reply #13 on:** November 28, 2012, 08:19 PM »

Not that interesting on it's own, and could be debug code that somebody forgot to take out...

But depending on what kind of hardware that's in the printer, such a backdoor could be pretty interesting. Like, serving trojans to a company LAN?

Renegade · « **Reply #14 on:** November 28, 2012, 08:23 PM »

Not that interesting on it's own, and could be debug code that somebody forgot to take out...
-f0dder (November 28, 2012, 08:19 PM)

At Samsung, everything must be done YESTERDAY. So, that's probably the most likely scenario. Dunno for sure.

40hz · « **Reply #15 on:** November 28, 2012, 09:22 PM »

Really, I would have expected more from you 40!
-Renegade (November 28, 2012, 07:35 PM)

Don't. It's been a very long week...

40hz · « **Reply #16 on:** November 28, 2012, 09:23 PM »

But but but but... it's for you safety!

I wonder in what universe is that a good idea?
-Renegade (November 28, 2012, 06:59 PM)

China.
-40hz (November 28, 2012, 07:01 PM)

China is a universe?!
-TaoPhoenix (November 28, 2012, 07:08 PM)

According to China it is.

Stoic Joker · « **Reply #17 on:** November 29, 2012, 06:50 AM »

Hmm. My printer is Samsung, but last I knew it wasn't live connected to the net. So how would an attacker get to the back door? Is it only some models?
-TaoPhoenix (November 28, 2012, 07:13 PM)

That chip in the ink cartridges that they tell you is to monitor levels actually monitors all connected computers, (including USB).

Then when you throw out or recycle the old cartridge, the government collects the information stored on that chip.
-4wd (November 28, 2012, 07:25 PM)

There goes my monopoly on crazy conspiracy ~~theories~~ news/fact/history. (But seriously - do you have any links for that? I somehow doubt that anyone would invest in enough memory to make it remotely useful like that. However, I've seen crazier stuff with lots of evidence to back it up. Stuff so crazy that no matter how much evidence there is, I'm still baffled at it.)
-Renegade (November 28, 2012, 07:38 PM)

It's a great story ... But I'd have to call that one highly unlikely, given that the chip is generally way to busy planning its own (date based expiration/service "life") obsolence to care what you're trying to push through it.

Renegade · « **Reply #18 on:** November 29, 2012, 09:22 AM »

It's a great story ... But I'd have to call that one highly unlikely, given that the chip is generally way to busy planning its own (date based expiration/service "life") obsolence to care what you're trying to push through it.
-Stoic Joker (November 29, 2012, 06:50 AM)

I think he's joking.

I've just had several serious mind-fucks lately. In one, I was reading a physics book that talked about space-time curvature and non-curvature, and how the second law of thermodynamics properly applies to non-curved space-time. And that the reality is that space-time is curved. And that the second law of thermodynamics is not quite right as it doesn't account for curvature. At that point, I'm pretty fucking open to a whole whack-load of stuff~!

(I'd already seen other materials that talked about similar kinds of things in physics.)

Tinman57 · « **Reply #19 on:** November 29, 2012, 06:11 PM »

My cell phone memory card is smaller than my thumb-nail and holds 16Gb. That's a whole lot of information that can be stored, especially if stored in a text format.
-Tinman57 (November 28, 2012, 08:05 PM)

True enough, but I'm thinking about the cost. Would they spend the extra? It's not the size so much as the $$$.
-Renegade (November 28, 2012, 08:14 PM)

Samsung makes their own chips. They can make chips for pennies for their own use, but cost a butt-load for us to buy.

40hz · « **Reply #20 on:** November 29, 2012, 06:20 PM »

My cell phone memory card is smaller than my thumb-nail and holds 16Gb. That's a whole lot of information that can be stored, especially if stored in a text format.
-Tinman57 (November 28, 2012, 08:05 PM)

True enough, but I'm thinking about the cost. Would they spend the extra? It's not the size so much as the $$$.
-Renegade (November 28, 2012, 08:14 PM)

Samsung makes their own chips. They can make chips for pennies for their own use, but cost a butt-load for us to buy.
-Tinman57 (November 29, 2012, 06:11 PM)

Very true. Once the mask is designed and made, the reproduction costs are relatively negligible.

When I worked for Perkin-Elmer, they made a popular "stepper" microlitograph. One of the engineers for that division gave me a chip embedded in a block of Lucite. It was the first manufactured chip of a new design they had come up with. He told me It was worth about $5 million dollars. Then he laughed and said that's because all the development expenses get written to the P&L statement once the first copy comes off the line. After that they cost the company about 85 cents apiece.