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Canon Printer Hacked To Run Doom Video Game

Posted by samzenpus on from the print-or-play dept.

wiredog writes Security researcher Michael Jordon has hacked a Canon's Pixma printer to run Doom. He did so by reverse engineering the firmware encryption and uploading via the update interface. From the BBC: "Like many modern printers, Canon's Pixma range can be accessed via the net, so owners can check the device's status. However, Mr Jordon, who works for Context Information Security, found Canon had done a poor job of securing this method of interrogating the device. 'The web interface has no user name or password on it,' he said. That meant anyone could look at the status of any device once they found it, he said. A check via the Shodan search engine suggests there are thousands of potentially vulnerable Pixma printers already discoverable online. There is no evidence that anyone is attacking printers via the route Mr Jordon found."

12 of 92 comments (clear)

  1. So it runs Doom ? by MondoGordo · · Score: 5, Funny

    How much paper does that use ?

    1. Re:So it runs Doom ? by cp5i6 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You're missing the point.

      It's connected to the net. check. It's got enough cpu power to run a proper app. check. It's got no security. check. It's got enough storage for a decently sized program. check.

      You know what the next logical step is?

      installing DDoS zombies on these printers.

    2. Re:So it runs Doom ? by OhSoLaMeow · · Score: 4, Funny

      You know what the next logical step is?

      Beowulf clusters of Canon printers?

      --
      They can take my LifeAlert pendant when they pry it from my cold dead fingers.
    3. Re:So it runs Doom ? by gstoddart · · Score: 4, Funny

      You know what the next logical step is?

      It involves the internet ... so I'll assume some form of pornography.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    4. Re:So it runs Doom ? by lucm · · Score: 4, Funny

      The guy will upload 3D printer firmware, and demons from Doom will come out of the printer.

      RUN

      --
      lucm, indeed.
    5. Re:So it runs Doom ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Ooh. Printer porn.

      Ms. Canon: I love the way you jam the paper inside me.
      Mr. Epson: Ooh, baby, my fuser's so hot for you.
      Ms. Canon: Yeah. That's the way. Fill me full of black ink.

      Eww.

    6. Re:So it runs Doom ? by tippe · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Well duh, the next logical step is obviously to add sound by modulating the movement of the print head somehow (sort of like how you could on old HP ScanJet scanners in order to play music). Who'd want to play doom on their printer unless it also had sound?

  2. It's on the network... by damn_registrars · · Score: 4, Funny

    ... can you run multiplayer doom if you have several of these printers? Maybe make the printer print out red when you're hit?

    --
    Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
  3. Sigh. by ledow · · Score: 4, Funny

    I really shouldn't be getting my tech news from sites that are basically a day behind BBC News.

  4. Cannon Releasing a Fix by FrankieBaby1986 · · Score: 4, Funny
    From the article:

    "The colour palette is still not quite right," he said. "But it proves the point and it runs quite quickly, though it's not optimised."

    Mr Jordon has no plans to fine tune the demonstration and do that optimisation or take on more work to get the game beyond its loading screen, given how much trouble it took to get it working at all.

    "I'm so sick of it," he said. "I'm done."

    On a blog entry about Mr Jordon's work, Canon said it intended "to provide a fix as quickly as is feasible".

    This will involve adding a user name and password field to the web interface for future Pixma printers and issuing an update for existing owners to add the same feature.

    It looks like Cannon is planning to release a fix to correct the color palette and get the game optimized! Even better they are going to add accounts to the game for scores and going to release this for all previous purchasers of the printer! Sweet!

    :p

    --
    ERROR: SIG NOT FOUND (A)bort, (R)etry, (F)ail?:
  5. Screw Torrent. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Use it as Tor Relays.

    It doesn't even have to be an exit node, but thousands of added Tor nodes running no logging and providing hop services for in-network traffic would be a huge boon for the privacy of all users. Best part, if you kept the cpu usage down, you could keep a print daemon running on them so the end users of the printer weren't affected, and allow anyone sympathetic to run it with valid deniability.

  6. Re:Surprising by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 3, Informative

    > 25MHz 486 and 640x480 VGA with no acceleration?

    Before you get flamed ...

    Dos Doom used @ 320x200 in ModeY, Quake supported Michael Abrash's ModeX @ 320x240.

    Doom95 which ran on Windows 95 supported different resolutions.

    I played it on my 386SX 16 MHz with the screen shrunk down a few levels. It was silky smooth on the Pentium 90 MHz, and the Pentium Pro 200 MHz (obviously) as was Quake.

    Reference: http://doom.wikia.com/wiki/Asp...