I think the word "safe" in your "PrinterSafe" might be misleading. It is not safe if they don't have or lose the key. Using the word "Encrypted" somewhere might make more sense.
PrintEncrypt
EncryptedPrint
Maybe
SafeEncrypt
SafePrint
Topic: The perfect offline printer... - page 2. (Read 2941 times)
Epson makes dot matrix printers. Really, the dangers of getting an infected off the shelf printer from your favorite computer store is small. Especially if you never intend to connect it to any other computer.
It is really a shame to buy a brand new printer, and be forced to destroy it after printing a few pages.
A brand new ribbon on Epson dot matrix printers (typical LX-300 II) is about $3 ? You can destroy that after printing 3000 pages (or when the ink starts to fade.)
Just keep your printer physically secure. Or if you are that paranoid, don't use a printer. Hand write your paper back up.
It is really a shame to buy a brand new printer, and be forced to destroy it after printing a few pages.
A brand new ribbon on Epson dot matrix printers (typical LX-300 II) is about $3 ? You can destroy that after printing 3000 pages (or when the ink starts to fade.)
Just keep your printer physically secure. Or if you are that paranoid, don't use a printer. Hand write your paper back up.
This won't be much of an issue. I started reworking the paper backup page, and added PrinterSafe™ which encrypts the backup that is printed, and then has you write down the 64-bit encryption key ON the paper backup. This encryption key is generated with the same keystretching as the wallet encryption, which means that, even though 64-bits doesn't seem like a lot, it will take the attacker like 0.25 sec and 8MB per guess.
This should be sufficient for keeping your printer in the dark.
I woudln't mind a slightly better name... PrinterMask, PrinterSafe... PrintSafe?
Epson makes dot matrix printers. Really, the dangers of getting an infected off the shelf printer from your favorite computer store is small. Especially if you never intend to connect it to any other computer.
It is really a shame to buy a brand new printer, and be forced to destroy it after printing a few pages.
A brand new ribbon on Epson dot matrix printers (typical LX-300 II) is about $3 ? You can destroy that after printing 3000 pages (or when the ink starts to fade.)
Just keep your printer physically secure. Or if you are that paranoid, don't use a printer. Hand write your paper back up.
It is really a shame to buy a brand new printer, and be forced to destroy it after printing a few pages.
A brand new ribbon on Epson dot matrix printers (typical LX-300 II) is about $3 ? You can destroy that after printing 3000 pages (or when the ink starts to fade.)
Just keep your printer physically secure. Or if you are that paranoid, don't use a printer. Hand write your paper back up.
Interesting that your BitcoinStore link doesn't work for me... not sure why. It just brings me to their homepage.
https://www.bitcoinstore.com/hp-deskjet-j110a-inkjet-printer-color-4800-x-1200-dpi-print-plain-paper-print-desktop.html
https://www.bitcoinstore.com/hp-deskjet-j110a-inkjet-printer-color-4800-x-1200-dpi-print-plain-paper-print-desktop.html
His URL was without https and www, so it must be the server cfg
Interesting that your BitcoinStore link doesn't work for me... not sure why. It just brings me to their homepage.
https://www.bitcoinstore.com/hp-deskjet-j110a-inkjet-printer-color-4800-x-1200-dpi-print-plain-paper-print-desktop.html
https://www.bitcoinstore.com/hp-deskjet-j110a-inkjet-printer-color-4800-x-1200-dpi-print-plain-paper-print-desktop.html
Does anyone still make dot matrix printers?
Yes, but nowadays they are considered high-end devices. The main market is secure printing of multi-carbon-copy forms. The impact printing process and ballpoint pen handwriting are difficult to forge and easy to discover forgery attempts, even using automated processing of optically scanned forms.Edit: D&T made a good point about ribbons. I've never seen or used a dot-matrix or daisy-wheel printer with carbon-copy-paper ribbons. The ones I've used were all using woven-fabric ink ribbons that are impossible to read from unless you print only repeated patterns (which is not impossible).
Edit2: In addition to the insecurities described in the article linked by etotheipi there are another problems with multifunction devices: many of them have large amounts of memory that is made nearly-nonvolatile by a capacitor or battery backup. It could store hundreds or thousands of simple, text-only pages for later retrieval.
A cheapie printer used with the OS-provided drivers is probably the best choice.
Does anyone still make dot matrix printers?
They are still made for specialty purposes like printing checks and govt forms. However remember the spent ribbon on a dot matrix printer contains a reverse image of what is printed. Unless you intend to keep the printer and ribbon secure and destroy all spent ribbons it is a pretty easy method to exploit.
Does anyone still make dot matrix printers?
I'm advertising for BitcoinStore.com, because I'm quite pleased with this particular product and you can buy it from there with BTC. I've recently become more concerned about malicious printers, so I wanted to have a small, cheap printer to go with my crappy offline laptop. In the past, I used an existing printer temporarily disconnected from the internet and connected via USB, because printers aren't supposed to be able to remember anything. That Samsung vulnerability made me think otherwise...
So here it is: the HP Deskjet 1000/j110A. It cost a whole 0.79 BTC including shipping. It's small, it's light, and it works with Ubuntu 10.04 with pre-installed drivers*, and it comes with quite a bit of ink. I suspect these printers are just old and being sold at "below value" to make room for newer products.
HP Deskjet J110A Inkjet Printer - Color - 4800 x 1200 dpi Print - Plain Paper Print - Desktop
*NOTE: The default driver selected for this printer in Ubuntu is wrong. When it asks you which driver to use, select "HP", then DesignJet 110 (NOT "Deskjet"). Do not print a test page, since it will waste a ton of your precious ink! Test it by printing a backup!
*NOTE2: This printer does not come with a USB device cable. BYOUSB.
So here it is: the HP Deskjet 1000/j110A. It cost a whole 0.79 BTC including shipping. It's small, it's light, and it works with Ubuntu 10.04 with pre-installed drivers*, and it comes with quite a bit of ink. I suspect these printers are just old and being sold at "below value" to make room for newer products.
HP Deskjet J110A Inkjet Printer - Color - 4800 x 1200 dpi Print - Plain Paper Print - Desktop
*NOTE: The default driver selected for this printer in Ubuntu is wrong. When it asks you which driver to use, select "HP", then DesignJet 110 (NOT "Deskjet"). Do not print a test page, since it will waste a ton of your precious ink! Test it by printing a backup!
*NOTE2: This printer does not come with a USB device cable. BYOUSB.
Jump to: