The University of Nebraska–Lincoln was recently targeted by an unknown source sending threatening fliers to campus printers nationwide.

The messages are being investigated by University Police. Faculty, staff and students should report any malicious printer messages or activity to the police.

Information Technology Services is also offering security resources to protect any printer operating on the campus network.

“Printers, as well as cameras and control systems that operate on the network can be exploited or hacked in the same way that criminals take over computers,” said Rick Haugerud, chief information security officer. “They can also be secured to block these types of criminal activity.”

Many printers can be configured to block off-campus users, allowing only authorized faculty, staff and students to access them via a virtual private network connection. Another prevention step is to change default passwords assigned to a new printer or device to a unique, strong password.

Hackers often exploit devices via default passwords.

For more information on printer security and best practices, click here.