Limit Internet access to protect printers from malicious printing

This information was sent to the IT Security Community and Frontline Notify groups through email on August 1, 2016.

We are once again seeing departmental printers being hijacked to print offensive materials. This is essentially a repeat of what we saw back in March (Protect printers from malicious printing, 3/25/16).

If you are responsible for university printers, please follow the Network Printing Best Practices on Safe Computing to protect them from malicious printing.

The most effective thing you can do is limit your printer's Internet connectivity:

• Printers and other devices that do not require Internet connectivity should be placed in private IP space. ITS Networking and Telecommunications provides guidance for Assigning Private IP Network Numbers.
• Devices that require connectivity to the Internet should be configured to only allow connection to necessary services.

If you have questions, contact the ITS Service Center.