In an age of fast technological and cyber advances and even faster cyber hackers, it’s not silly to be thinking about securing your wireless printer.
There are plenty of wireless printers on the market now but just as you need to secure your own personal wireless network, you should secure your wireless printer where possible.
A lot of times people won’t think twice about securing their printer but being ignorant of this could be fatal.
When connecting to a Wi-Fi network, you’ve likely seen a list of other networks within your area that are available to connect to. Some of these will have a keypad lock next to it indicating that you’ll need a password to connect to it, while others will be available for you to connect to without a password.
Always ensure your wireless printer is secured with password protection. Adding this varies depending on the printer and manufacturer but make sure you look at the user guide and check you’re doing all you can to secure your printer.
Even in the last couple of weeks a story went viral of someone pranking their neighbour who had purchased a new wireless printer yet left it unprotected. This allowed said neighbour to gain access and run with a joke of the printer becoming self-aware.
This may be a low-level breach of someone’s printer privacy but this is just one example of how easy it can be for someone to take advantage of a lack of security.
Combating Wireless Printing Security Threats
Here’s a few things you can do as a home-user to increase your printer security –
- Password protection – As mentioned above, ensure your printer is password protected if it has wireless printing capabilities and the capabilities to secure it this way.
- Install the latest software and drivers – A lot of manufacturers will continuously roll out software and driver updates to make sure they are combatting the latest security threats. Always make sure you’re up to date.
- Setup a guest network – If you offer guests, clients or anyone else access to your wireless network then think about setting up a guest network solely for this purpose. This will mean that these people can access the web but not the main network or devices connected on the main network. If you need further information on doing this, speak with your internet provider.
- Don’t connect your printer to a public hotspot! – Ensure your printer is connected to your own router, and some printers will allow you to restrict access to users who are solely connected to your home network. If you’re connected to a public Wi-Fi/hotspot, then anyone could potentially connect and breach the security of your printer.
Take a look at our post from a few months ago to find out more about general printer security and some of the measures manufacturers are now taking.
