PewDiePie Hacker makes a valid point

A hacker has carried out another attack on thousands of printers around the world in order to raise awareness of the security vulnerabilities of such internet connected devices as well as encouraging people to subscribe to PewDiePie’s Youtube channel.

Even if you’re not much of a social media fan you’ve probably heard of the Youtuber PewDiePie. The Swede is currently engaged in a bit of a competition with another channel called T-Series to remain the most subscribed content creator on the video sharing platform.

With a following of more than 75 million people, the Swede has massive reach and huge numbers of his fans have been encouraging people to subscribe to him. Making the headlines however are the recent stunts that have seen hackers force tens of thousands of printers from all over the world to print out posters in support of the Youtuber.

The first incident occurred at the end of November and saw the hackers take control of thousands of printers. This most recent incident however has a more serious message behind it.

“I’ve been trying to show that ‘hacking’ isn’t a game or toy, it can have serious real-life consequences. We really want people to pay attention to this because causing physical damage is very much a possibility. These chips have a limited lifetime of ‘writes. If you keep the loop on enough, the chip will fry and the printer will no longer function. The fallout goes beyond print-outs, we could also be capturing sensitive documents as they get printed or even modify documents as they get printed,” the original hacker told the BBC.

The Importance of Patching

The stunt might be seen by some as irresponsible but it actually has a very valid message behind it. Time and again organisations have been breached via unpatched software and hardware.

The stunt highlights the importance of patching and is a message that the cybersecurity industry has been trying to get across to individuals and businesses for years. With 99% of exploited vulnerabilities already being a year old when a breach occurs it’s a message that must be heeded.

To reduce the risks organisations should:

§ carry out regular audits of their internet connected devices

§ keep them updated with the latest security patches

§ Decide whether such devices need to be connected to the internet in the first place

Patch Management with CyberScore™

There is a service that can reduce the stress and streamline the process to ensure that your organisation’s systems are kept up to date with the latest security patches.

CyberScore™ makes patch management quick and easy. Simply schedule a scan (ideally every month) and voila it will detect any vulnerable software on your networks allowing you to quickly implement an effective patch management strategy.

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