A.P. Lawrence

Best of the Newsgroups: secure printing ssh

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From: Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us>
Subject: Re: Encryption of printer files
Date: Mon, 26 May 2003 15:42:58 -0700 References: <nRHza.19690$io.358154@iad-read.news.verio.net> <20030524160924.GE20726@jpradley.jpr.com> <f3f18bc0.0305261403.14e4ef8c@posting.google.com>

On 26 May 2003 15:03:08 -0700, rja.carnegie@excite.com (Robert
Carnegie) wrote:

>Agreed; if the location of the printer is not physically secure,
>then you probably want at least a printer that requires a PIN or
>other identification before delivering the document.

Almost all of the high end (i.e. overpriced) network production
printers offer "lockable mailbox bins" or similar ways of securing the
print jobs.  Various government contracts require this feature.

One of my security conscious customers decided to lock their dot
matrix production printer in a closet, as they suspected employees
were printing out customer lists and selling them to competitors.  It
was a big Printronix printer and a small closet.  I was called in to
do damage control when a print job went insane, and jammed the inward
opening door shut by wrinkling a box of wide green bar paper.

I once played with a laser printer that generated scrambled output.
Each dot would be re-positioned somewhere near the proper location.
To read the output, the user had a fiber optic plate, that
repositioned the dots back to their proper location.  You could fish a
printed page out of the trash and still not be able to read the page
without the fiber optic decoder plate.  A similar system was used for
reading authentication codes on bank drafts.  It kinda worked but was
a real pain to align.  It was also suppose to eliminate the need for
paper shredders, which didn't happen.  The customer blundered onward
to the "paperless office" which also didn't happen.  There are many
such ideas on the road to security.

Unix and Linux Support

One of my aquaintances makes a business out of selling "invisible ink"
for ink jet printers through the various "spy supply" online stores.
The print only shows up when the paper is heated.
  http://www.masino.com/ideas/LemonInkjet.php
Try not to start a fire while reading the page.

None of these will do any good against a camera mounted inside the
copier or printer.  Our spooks did exactly that to the Russian embassy
in Washington DC during the cold war.  The film cartridge was replaced
whenever the copier repairman came to do scheduled maintenance.  It
didn't catch anything useful or even interesting.

Ummm...  Where's my black hat?

-- 
Jeff Liebermann  150 Felker St #D  Santa Cruz CA 95060
(831)421-6491 pgr  (831)336-2558 home
http://www.LearnByDestroying.com   AE6KS
jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us   jeffl@cruzio.com

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