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0 pointsmichaelt9mo ago0 comments

Well yes, you've just hit on why this is a rather niche product.

You get a handful of somewhat questionable benefits. If for some reason your guests are visiting your printer's administration page, they won't have to click through a scary warning page. If someone is somehow sniffing all the traffic within your home network they won't be able to get your printer's administrative password.

But the main reason is some homelab enthusiasts are like bodybuilders at the gym - taking on tasks that seem Sisyphean to outsiders, for fun and to build their strength.

0 comments

themafia9mo ago

> someone is somehow sniffing all the traffic within your home network they won't be able to get your printer's administrative password.

If they're persistently stealing traffic from my network then the printers administrative password is the least worrisome part.

> homelab enthusiasts are like bodybuilders at the gym

Self obsessed to the point of absurdity? There was a vulnerability a few years ago where you could embed an HP Printer Firmware update into the middle of a print file by taking advantage of some insane JCL commands. You can also embed JCL commands directly into a word document.

So these researchers created a word document that when printed updates your printers firmware with a hacked version allowing an advanced persistent threat to live inside your printer.

If your printer has no anti virus or no intrusion detection then putting an SSL certificate on there is entirely pointless.

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