Hackers are currently taking over company printers around the world to produce anti-work slogans on receipts.
Hackers Target Printers
According to Reddit and Twitter posts, dozens of printers are printing slogans encouraging workers to talk about their pay and time with their coworkers. The slogans also encourage workers to demand better conditions from their employers.
On Dec. 2, a Reddit user posted a picture of a receipt with the printed slogan asking them if they were being underpaid. The hackers also want to remind workers that they have a protected legal right to talk about their pay with their coworkers.
The hackers also pointed out that poverty wages exist because there are those who are willing to turn a blind eye to it, according to Engadget.
The posts were made on a subreddit called r/Antiwork. It describes itself as a place for those who wishes to end work, those who wants to know how to end work, and those who are longing for a work-free life.
It is also a place for those who want more information on anti-work ideas and personal help with their struggles at work.
The receipts also encourage workers to form unions. Hackers claim that unions could easily align with the goals of everyone.
The same posts on the subreddit show that many printers have been hacked and were producing similar slogans. Some of them even have different messages, but they outline the same sentiments regarding workers.
The receipts have a link to the subreddit, which has gained popularity. Over the last few months, workers started to demand better pay and better working conditions, according to Vice.
Conspiracy Theory Regarding the Hacking
Some users on Reddit have suggested that the messages on the receipts are fake printouts, and those just did them with access to a receipt printer. Some have pointed out that it is almost impossible to hack a printer and write down those sentences on receipts.
Users of the Reddit forum believe that it is possible that the whole thing is being done as part of a conspiracy to make it seem like the subreddit is doing something illegal or that it could just be a stunt made for the internet so that they can gain views.
A cybersecurity expert, Andrew Morris, told Motherboard that print requests for a document containing worker's rights messaging were being broadcast to printers that are misconfigured to be exposed to the internet. It has been successful in several places.
Shodan, a tool that can scan the internet for insecure PCs, servers, and more, confirmed that several printers are exposed.
Morris added that the exact number of hacked printers would be almost impossible to count.
Morris, who is also the founder of a firm that monitors the internet called GreyNoise, said that the firm had detected the network traffic connected to receipt printers.
It confirmed that someone is sending the printing jobs all over the internet, like blasting them all over. Since what was targeted was not secured printers, it was easy to do.
This is not the first time that printers have been hacked. In 2018, several printers were hacked, leading to HP launching a bug bounty program.
In 2014, hackers hacked Canon printers to expose the brand's weak security.
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Written by Sophie Webster
