HP Instant ink

[adamskiodp]

Greetings

I'm after some advice from fellow forum members.

Is anyone using the HP Instant ink system? Is it worth it and are the printers any good?

I am fed up with my current printer ink costing me a fortune. I've tried 3rd party inks but the quality isn't quite the same.

Thanks for any comments.

Adam

 

[87 027]

Yes, I'm on the basic plan. Printer is fine and so far is working out considerably cheaper than buying cartridges in PC world!

 

[DaleCooper]

Great, now hackers can get into your printer!

 

[Crossover]

Great, now hackers can get into your printer!

With the Internet of Things (IoT) I think that is the least of our worries!

 

[adamskiodp]

Thanks for the reply.

Adam

 

[jon0844]

Greetings

I'm after some advice from fellow forum members.

Is anyone using the HP Instant ink system? Is it worth it and are the printers any good?

I am fed up with my current printer ink costing me a fortune. I've tried 3rd party inks but the quality isn't quite the same.

Thanks for any comments.

Adam

My parents use it for their business and have had no problems, other than having to get a replacement printer due to a design fault - and HP messing them around with the recall, although the end result was that they got a brand new printer after a few days delay, and another load of ink.

You'll likely find that you end up with loads of spare ink cartridges and more seemingly arriving all the time, as the idea is you'll never run out even if suddenly going from printing the usual daily b&w prints (letters etc) to full-page glossy colour photos.

I have to say that it seems to work out as a very good deal, and I'm surprised other manufacturers haven't followed suit. It's great for HP as you always get their ink, and they get a regular income.

Everything in software these days appears to about getting you to agree to paying £5 or £10 a month, forever more.

Great, now hackers can get into your printer!

Well, you can set up an email address that lets you print from anywhere. If you knew that email address, you could certainly send loads of pages to print to it. I am certain it can be turned off though, but my parents have never been hit with spam that gets printed out (the address is quite unique).

 

[DaleCooper]

Well, you can set up an email address that lets you print from anywhere. If you knew that email address, you could certainly send loads of pages to print to it. I am certain it can be turned off though, but my parents have never been hit with spam that gets printed out (the address is quite unique).

More to the point a hacker could see what you're printing so be careful it isn't sensitive or something that could be used for identity theft.

 

[jon0844]

More to the point a hacker could see what you're printing so be careful it isn't sensitive or something that could be used for identity theft.

Really? How do they do that then?

 

[DaleCooper]

Really? How do they do that then?

I don't know but I bet it's possible.

 

[jon0844]

I don't know but I bet it's possible.

I'd really prefer a bit more evidence than that.

Printers don't really have the storage to store every page you've printed, so I really would like you to come up with something a bit more substantial than 'I bet it's possible'.

Now if you hacked into a PC connected to the printer...

 

[DaleCooper]

I'd really prefer a bit more evidence than that.

Printers don't really have the storage to store every page you've printed, so I really would like you to come up with something a bit more substantial than 'I bet it's possible'.

Now if you hacked into a PC connected to the printer...

I don't know how to do a DDoS or steal children's personal data from VTech either does that mean it can't be done? As for the printers memory that's irrelevant as the data could be extracted while printing if somebody so chose. The important thing is that the more things that are connected to the internet, especially by WiFi, the more danger there is of your security being breached. Obviously it's difficult to avoid this completely but we should all be aware of the dangers, remember the baby alarms with cameras that could be accessed remotely.

The following may be of interest:

How easy is it to hack a home network?
By Mark Ward Technology correspondent, BBC News

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-35629890

 

[dgl]

My main printer wouldn't do anything even if a hacker could access it, has the great feature of having configurable levels of different user access with username/passwords.
And as for ink, I use a laser. Full set of remanufactured toner (1.5k pages) for less than £20

 

[DaleCooper]

My main printer wouldn't do anything even if a hacker could access it, has the great feature of having configurable levels of different user access with username/passwords

That's great except one of the major reasons for security breaches is that many people don't change the default username and password. I was nearly caught out myself when I had to reset my router but didn't at first realise that it had reset the password as well.

 

[dgl]

That's great except one of the major reasons for security breaches is that many people don't change the default username and password. I was nearly caught out myself when I had to reset my router but didn't at first realise that it had reset the password as well.

Not a single default password here, even the Technicolor router doesn't use the name admin for the administrator login.

 

[jon0844]

I don't know how to do a DDoS or steal children's personal data from VTech either does that mean it can't be done

I am well aware of hacking, but the printer connects to HP to update on how many pages printed etc, so you're not directly hacking the printer.

As I said, you'd hack the PC (via the router) and then you could potentially see what's in the printer queue and maybe even access cached data.

You wouldn't find the printer and somehow see what was bring printed at that very moment in time.

With IoT, it's obvious that the media will be latching on to any stories about hacking. I mean, hacking cars, fridges, doorbells etc.

Many hacks are 'proof of concepts' which rely on so many things to be correct that ordinary people have little to fear, especially with most modern equipment not coming with a default admin/password setup. People have to set up new equipment and subscriptions with unique passwords.

Of course the weak link for online services is when that gets hacked, but I do think there are going to be many scare stories circulating in the coming years that are just that.

Anyway, back on topic, I don't think hacking is something people should worry too much about if considering going for the HP Instant Ink service. If there is a concern, maybe wrap the ink cartridges in tin foil first.