Is your printer spewing gibberish? Could be malware

[JMH]

Malware that is triggering massive print jobs is found primarily on computers in the U.S. and India, but other countries in Europe and South America as well.
(Credit: Symantec)
Over the last few weeks, companies around the globe have been reporting that their print servers are emptying paper trays by printing endless pages of meaningless characters. Symantec now says malware may be to blame.


Dubbed Trojan.Milicenso, the malware targets Windows-based computers and can spread through malicious e-mail attachments or visiting Web sites hosting malicious scripts, including fake codecs, Symantec said in a blog post yesterday. It has infected computers primarily in the U.S. and India, but also in Brazil, the U.K. and other countries in Europe and South America.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57...?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=News-Security&Privacy

 

[JMH]

Malware causing printers to create "garbled printouts"

If you work in an office and recently have seen your printer suddenly start creating documents out of the blue, you are not alone. According to an update on the Symantec web site this week, a recent outbreak of a PC malware program called Trojan.Milicenso might be to blame.
The malware is supposed to target PCs. Symantec says that for the past two weeks, the trojan has made itself known mostly in the US and India, along with parts of Europe and South America. It's delivered through the normal channels for malware; either from a person surfing to an infected web site or opening an email attachment.

However, it seems that this malware can also affect printers that are hooked up to the infected PC. Symantec says that it has received "multiple reports of massive print jobs being sent to print servers, printing garbage characters until the printer runs out of paper."

http://www.neowin.net/news/malware-...&utm_campaign=Feed:+neowin-main+(Neowin+News)