Why the world never really stopped using fax machines

Fax machines were invented before light bulbs

Yaniv Balmas reveals the surprising history of the fax machine, showing that it was invented decades before both electric lighting and the telephone.

The Fax Was Invented Before the Light Bulb

Who still uses fax machines in modern times?

The speaker reveals how hundreds of millions of fax numbers remain active worldwide, ranging from tech giants and international banks to the White House.

Who Still Uses Fax Machines Today?

Hacking an entire corporate LAN through a fax line

The researcher illustrates a theoretical attack where sending a malicious fax lets a remote hacker control an all-in-one printer and pivot straight into the company's internal LAN.

Hacking Corporate Networks with Just a Fax Number

How to update printer firmware: you print it

After finding hidden firmware binaries on an archive server, the researchers realize the printer firmware update is delivered by simply printing the file.

How You Actually Install Printer Firmware

When you're a printer, everything looks like a print job.

The researcher explains the bizarre logic behind HP's compression routines, illustrating how printer engineers treated raw binary files like scanned sheets of paper.

When Everything Looks Like a Print Job

Cracking proprietary compression with raw binary bits.

By lining up byte offsets and expanding hex characters to individual bits, the presenter shows how an unknown compression format revealed its bitmap structure.

Spotting the Hidden Pattern in Hex Code

He bought the domain hardcoded into millions of printers for $5

Security researchers reverse engineer HP printer firmware and discover it pings fakeurl1234.com. Finding the domain unregistered, the researcher buys it for five dollars, causing millions of printers worldwide to connect to his server.

How a Hacker Bought Control of Millions of HP Printers

The speaker demonstrates the acoustic handshake of a fax machine and explains how the negotiation phases create an HDLC tunnel that pipes data directly into the CPU.

What Those Fax Beeps Actually Mean

From a phone line fax to total PC takeover

A live demonstration shows an exploit fax sent to an all-in-one printer over a phone line. Once the printer is compromised, it deploys EternalBlue across the local network to take over a connected PC.

Hacking a PC Through an Office Fax Line

The number one security advice: stop using fax

After detailing patches for over 300 vulnerable printer models, the presenter delivers the most effective security recommendation of all: stop using fax machines entirely.

The Ultimate Fix for 300 Vulnerable Printer Models

[01:55] The Fax Was Invented Before the Light Bulb
[04:26] Who Still Uses Fax Machines Today?
[08:35] Hacking Corporate Networks with Just a Fax Number
[14:35] How You Actually Install Printer Firmware
[16:28] When Everything Looks Like a Print Job
[19:17] Spotting the Hidden Pattern in Hex Code
[26:17] How a Hacker Bought Control of Millions of HP Printers
[34:38] What Those Fax Beeps Actually Mean
[39:25] Hacking a PC Through an Office Fax Line
[40:51] The Ultimate Fix for 300 Vulnerable Printer Models

Why the world never really stopped using fax machines

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