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U. to limit remote printer access

The Office of Information and Technology and other departments are in the process of limiting printer accessibility to users on campus in order to improve security against attacks, according to Associate Chief Information Officer for Office of Information Technology Support Services Steven Sather.

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Sather added that this reconfiguration has been occurring throughout this academic year and that the transition is scheduled to be completed over the summer.

Last week, anti-Semitic posters were sent to printers at University, as well as several other colleges throughout the country.

These posters were the work of Andrew “weev” Auernheimer, a known white supremacist and computer hacker.

In an earlier interview with The Daily Princetonian, University Assistant Vice President for Communications Daniel Day said that Auernheimer’s actions did not constitute hacking in the sense that they did not breach security.

Acting Director of the Center for Information Technology Policy Nick Feamster said that the attacks were a consequence of how many printers on campus are configured.

“It’s not something that was a new vulnerability or anything like that. In fact, it wasn’t even a software vulnerability as much as printers have this feature that if you send data to a particular port, they will print it out,” Feamster said.“The issue is basically that the Princeton network is also connected to the internet, so just as you or I would be able to send a file to a printer on the network, there was no protection in place to prevent someone who wasn’t on the campus from doing the same thing.”

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Sather said that printers across campus are connected to the network in two ways. Some can be accessed from anywhere on the internet, and some can only be accessed from campus.

“[The system is] much like how www.princeton.edu can be accessed from anywhere in the world and a device connected to your home network can only be accessed when you are at home,” Sather noted.

The attacks were conducted though the first type of printer, he said.

As an added layer of security and privacy, most printers on campus have print release stations connected to them, according to Sather. These machines require users to identify themselves with a netID and password before printing. He noted that the hacker did not print to these printers and does not have access to do so.

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Even if OIT blocks access to printers from off-campus, Feamster said that there are still ways to allow Princeton faculty, staff and students printer access from off-campus. Virtual Private Networks can be used to connect off-campus devices to Princeton’s network, even if they are being operated from off-campus, he said.

Feamster said that there are instances where VPN access is convenient, as it allows faculty members to print from off-campus.

“I’ll print out my lecture notes from home, come in, pick them up, and walk into lecture,” Feamster said, describing a situation in which VPN access might be useful. “This is an example where I am off-campus but send data to one of our printers to print it out.”

With the new security blocks in place, faculty members would have to use the University Virtual Private Network to print from off-campus. Feamster said he personally would have no problem doing that, but for other individuals on campus, it might be a frustrating change.

“It’s a lot easier if [we] don’t use a VPN, but the problem is that it’s also easier for attackers,” he added.

University Chief Information Security Officer David Sherry deferred comment to Steven Sather.