News HP CEO justifies blocking third-party ink cartridges by claiming they can inject malware

[Admin]

HP CEO Enrique Lores gave an interview to CNBC where he was asked about the firmware bricking printers with third-party inks. The CEO said they're protecting their IP, but continued saying that third-party cartridges can inject viruses.

HP CEO justifies blocking third-party ink cartridges by claiming they can inject malware : Read more

 

[Eximo]

For anyone that prints regularly, why inkjet? Color laser printers are cheap enough now, and certainly pay for themselves with moderate use.

The low price of inkjet printers is literally to entice you to buy them, not properly accounting for ink prices. It is a whole product concept that needs to go away.

 

[Murissokah]

Come on, enforcing monopoly through software lock is bad enough, now the need to insult the customers intelligence?

 

[peachpuff]

Come on, enforcing monopoly through software lock is bad enough, now the need to insult the customers intelligence?

Clearly he must be shorting hp stock, no one can be that dumb, right?

 

[g-unit1111]

I've used 3rd party ink cartridges. It's not malware you should be afraid of, it's the poor build quality. I had a printer damaged by one and I was still finding spilled toner in the machine even after we discontinued use of it.

 

[vanadiel007]

Just don't purchase HP printers and problem solved. There are many other printer manufacturers who make good quality printers.

 

[bigdragon]

I want to see the 3D printer manufacturers produce a few 2D printer models. My 3D printer is easy to troubleshoot, repair, and refill -- no need for proprietary crap. My Epson printer is comparatively unreliable and locked down. Right now it's not functioning because it wrongly thinks its waste ink tank is full and that it's printed the maximum number of pages its lifespan allows!

Nobody should buy HP printers. DRM is just another problem in a long list of faults. The last HP printer I owned was an unreliable piece of crap that self-destructed after the warranty expired. The thing would put lines in everything it printed no matter what ink cartridges used. HP printers have been nonstop problems for friends and family too. Epson and Canon ink tank printers have nearly eliminated the dreaded "help, my printer won't print" calls.

 

[Sleepy_Hollowed]

These are the same people that won't let you use their software without registering it first.

HP products are a non-starter, and if someone else does the same thing, treat them accordingly.

As an aside, you can just use electronic documents, don't do printers to yourself unless you have no other option.

 

[Sippincider]

For anyone that prints regularly, why inkjet? .

Printing rarely is almost worse; the jets will be dry or plugged and that one job will cost a new cartridge!

 

[das_stig]

You can see from HP CEO's that once they have opened their mouths, their brains disengage and their foot is implanted in their mouths or <Mod Edit> depending on which pocket their wallet is securely sealed up in.

 

[punkncat]

These are the same people that won't let you use their software without registering it first.

HP products are a non-starter, and if someone else does the same thing, treat them accordingly.

As an aside, you can just use electronic documents, don't do printers to yourself unless you have no other option.

I have a person in our office who is absolutely stuck on printing everything. Stacks of duplicate copies in folders that will never be looked at, but "just in case". We print everything to pdf and store in the cloud. Zero need for it at all almost 99% of the time. There is a very rare occasion that we might need to print and snail mail a bill for a customer similarly left living in the 90's. The biggest use case for our all in one is the scanner.



We have been using what is now an obsolete Brother model that is the same across our physical office and all the work from home folks. We use aftermarket ink and drums which are very cost effective. The brand we found seems to be refurbished 'official' product, so they work correctly (some don't) and the only real negative seems to be the monitoring program always alerting that the drum needs to be replaced. It is pretty obvious when it actually does. We will keep using them till they don't suit the purpose.

 

[Eximo]

I still work with a guy that prints absolutely everything. Brings binders and folders to meetings. Even huge spreadsheets. The amount of time he spends formatting things for print is probably a tenth of his working hours.

 

[plateLunch]

I was just prompted on my HP inkjet printer to accept a firmware update which I promptly denied. This started about a week ago. Is this update somehow tied to this revelation from HP?

 

[mnielsen]

HP CEO Enrique Lores gave an interview to CNBC where he was asked about the firmware bricking printers with third-party inks. The CEO said they're protecting their IP, but continued saying that third-party cartridges can inject viruses.

HP CEO justifies blocking third-party ink cartridges by claiming they can inject malware : Read more

Sure and that 3rd party ink cartridge mal-ware can even turn the printer into a Decepticon which then takes over humanity.
Let's assume there is any basis to 3rd party cartridges sending any code to a connected PC... HP Fix your security problem as printers should not be able to infect their host much less thru ANY print cartridge. If HP is unable to correct this level of security problem, they really must close their doors as they have become just dumb.
Let's assume the other side, that 3rd party cartridges can't send code to a connected PC, then Enrique is just passing a bull crap statement to justify a way to get 2% more income for the few that use 3rd party cartridges which will help HP further overprice their own cartridges.
Either way, HP has become toxic in thinking and it is probably beyond their less that impressive words from their CEO Enrique Lores. Maybe Enrique can give this speech another try with a bit less bull crap?

 

[endocine]

"We have seen that you can embed viruses in the cartridges. Through the cartridge, the virus can go to the printer, and then from the printer, go to the network."

The virus is the HP printer in the first place. Also, dont put the control chip on the cart, just have dum ink tanks that you can fill with anything, but even then, its likely HP would come up with yet another story about how that too was insecure

 

[Notton]

For anyone that prints regularly, why inkjet? Color laser printers are cheap enough now, and certainly pay for themselves with moderate use.

The low price of inkjet printers is literally to entice you to buy them, not properly accounting for ink prices. It is a whole product concept that needs to go away.

IDK how far along color laser has come along, but Inkjet was desirable for photo prints. The level of detail and color accuracy was noticeably better on a photo oriented inkjet vs a $100~$200 color laser when I last bought a laser printer... I think 10yrs ago?

 

[BillyBuerger]

Sure and that 3rd party ink cartridge mal-ware can even turn the printer into a Decepticon which then takes over humanity.
Let's assume there is any basis to 3rd party cartridges sending any code to a connected PC... HP Fix your security problem as printers should not be able to infect their host much less thru ANY print cartridge. If HP is unable to correct this level of security problem, they really must close their doors as they have become just dumb.
Let's assume the other side, that 3rd party cartridges can't send code to a connected PC, then Enrique is just passing a bull crap statement to justify a way to get 2% more income for the few that use 3rd party cartridges which will help HP further overprice their own cartridges.
Either way, HP has become toxic in thinking and it is probably beyond their less that impressive words from their CEO Enrique Lores. Maybe Enrique can give this speech another try with a bit less bull crap?

I had the same thought. Their response to why you shouldn't buy 3rd part ink is because their printers are so in-secure that the ink cartridge can be used as an attack vector.

 

[Dr3ams]

This isn't the first time HP tried to brick their cartridges. As per this article, the last time was in 2016. My first HP was a DeskJet 660C. After that I bought a number of printers from HP, but switched to Kyocera about 10 years ago. The ink cartridge and toner prices were the main reason.

 

[USAFRet]

IDK how far along color laser has come along, but Inkjet was desirable for photo prints. The level of detail and color accuracy was noticeably better on a photo oriented inkjet vs a $100~$200 color laser when I last bought a laser printer... I think 10yrs ago?

Color lasers have gotten better, but still not quite up to inkjet levels.

But for the typical person, color laser is just fine.

If you really really need quality that good, go to a print service. Kinkos/OfficeMax (in the US)

 

[Sippincider]

The amount of time he spends formatting things for print is probably a tenth of his working hours.

Had the misfortune of sitting through a Powerpoint, where the presenter proudly pointed out all their fonts, clip art, effects etc. Wonder how much time that involved.

On topic, did HP just openly admit their printers have a significant known and unpatched security vulnerability? (Yes it's marketing and FUD, but they may have put themselves into a difficult corner.)

 

[Sleepy_Hollowed]

I have a person in our office who is absolutely stuck on printing everything. Stacks of duplicate copies in folders that will never be looked at, but "just in case". We print everything to pdf and store in the cloud. Zero need for it at all almost 99% of the time. There is a very rare occasion that we might need to print and snail mail a bill for a customer similarly left living in the 90's. The biggest use case for our all in one is the scanner.



We have been using what is now an obsolete Brother model that is the same across our physical office and all the work from home folks. We use aftermarket ink and drums which are very cost effective. The brand we found seems to be refurbished 'official' product, so they work correctly (some don't) and the only real negative seems to be the monitoring program always alerting that the drum needs to be replaced. It is pretty obvious when it actually does. We will keep using them till they don't suit the purpose.

Maybe they need to read this: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/M_23_07-M-Memo-Electronic-Records_final.pdf

If the USA federal government (whom are constantly under threat of the super rich so it stops functioning) can go paperless, so can they.

 

[wr3zzz]

For anyone that prints regularly, why inkjet? Color laser printers are cheap enough now, and certainly pay for themselves with moderate use.

The low price of inkjet printers is literally to entice you to buy them, not properly accounting for ink prices. It is a whole product concept that needs to go away.

Both Brother and Epson in recent years have released inkjet printers with fill-able tanks instead of cartridges. HP is the only holdout. These inkjets are both cheaper in purchase and ownership, plus the ability to print on photo quality papers.

 

[kjfatl]

HP just announced that they build a defective product. I'm waiting for the class action lawsuit..
All that is needed to keep this from happening is a simple finite state machine which reports status values and forwards commands to the ink cartridge.

Since this is a known problem with HP products, I suggest removing them from you potential list of suppliers.

 

[cryoburner]

Both Brother and Epson in recent years have released inkjet printers with fill-able tanks instead of cartridges. HP is the only holdout. These inkjets are both cheaper in purchase and ownership, plus the ability to print on photo quality papers.

Yeah it's a bit weird that HP would still be trying to push ink cartridge DRM at a time when many newer printers have moved to ink-tanks where even the first-party ink costs a fraction of the price of cartridges on a per-page basis, and should last far longer between refills. Though HP does offer ink-tank models themselves, with at least some models having been released a couple years back. Canon has them too, so I think all the major inkjet printer companies offer them now.

Those printers do tend to cost more upfront though on a per-feature basis, likely because they are not subsidizing the cost of the printer with future cartridge sales. I suspect that a large portion of people moved to third-party cartridges due to the absurd pricing of official ink that costs almost nothing to produce, and since people are likely printing less in general these days, it probably makes sense for these manufacturers to move to ink pricing models that encourage people to use their printer more, rather than discouraging it. At least with the more reasonably priced bottles of ink, the manufacturers are turning some profit on refills, rather than having it all go to a third-party. They could have done that with cartridges too though. If the cartridges were reasonably priced, people would have less incentive to look for alternatives.

Also, dont put the control chip on the cart, just have dum ink tanks that you can fill with anything, but even then, its likely HP would come up with yet another story about how that too was insecure

I was thinking the same. The main reason the chip is there is to lock out third-party cartridges, not for anything that would really benefit the consumer. I suppose it can also help the printer to more accurately track how much ink is left in a cartridge as well though, since without some unique identifier, the printer wouldn't know whether the cartridge you were inserting was full or not. Though they could probably have a sensor check ink levels through a window on the cartridge or something. And of course, being able to identify a cartridge as genuine could provide the benefit of guaranteeing that the ink is of a formula designed to work well with the printer, and that it might be less likely to leak or clog the print head.

 

[g-unit1111]

Just don't purchase HP printers and problem solved. There are many other printer manufacturers who make good quality printers.

I had a Canon printer and hated it. That thing *NEVER* worked properly. My current HP has been pretty decent. Epson generally makes good products, but I hate the "fill it yourself" kind of printer.