Inkjet in flames?

[chrisr224]

I have been accused of burning my house down!

The supposed method is incredible! The expert witness says this is what I did!

'Logged on remotely and printed a page, the Brother wireless inkjet had been hacked to burst into flames! The mechanism for this is not clear but the resultant fire destroyed the house!'

I did nothing at all but insurance companies try everything not to pay out!

To me it doesn't make sense, there is no heat in an inkjet printer so what could cause a fire? I'm not sure if you can modify the firmware in one at all, you can in some laser printers but the firmware is much more complex in those.

I'd love to hear any comments on this topic, positive or negative!

 

[moderngurl]

What brand of printer is this? How old is it?
You should report this fire to the company that made it!

 

[InkCartridges]

I've heard rumours and silly tales of this happening before, there was a news story not so long ago about this type of thing being discovered as a major threat. You can read more on it here: Red Tape - Exclusive: Millions of printers open to devastating hack attack, researchers say but HP also released a counter story here: HP: Printer hack, fire stories are overblown | ZDNet

So just to be clear, the insurance companies are accusing you of hacking in to a printer to burn down your house? What is your story, how did the house actually burn down?

 

[chrisr224]

Printer details

Printer was a Brother MFC-J265W Wireless Ink jet, less than 12 months old.

This claim by insurance company is new - and clearly based on the articles about an HP LaserJet security issue published in November 2011, 2 months after the fire!

I can find no instances of an ink jet bursting into flames recorded on the internet, nor can I find out if you can actually 'Hack' one, the firmware in the LaserJet accepts programming changes from the PC but Ink jets are much simpler devices, can it be done?

 

[InkCartridges]

Well from my understanding, the rumours and claims made by the news sites were that it is possible to hack and change the maximum heat used by laser printers that use heat to fuse the toner to the paper, the change in the heat would supposedly be enough to set the paper on fire and eventually the whole printer.

Whether or not this is at all possible is arguable, and in the case of a inkjet printer even more so.

One thing about your story I don't understand, you say that the insurance company have put this new claim through based on the articles. They claim that this is how the fire started right? Do you personally know how it actually started?

 

[chrisr224]

Thanks InkJet!

Your understanding of the Laser situation is the same as mine, theoretically possible with the fuser setting fire to the paper. HP claim the fuser has a mechanical thermal switch, not controlled by the firmware which would prevent it happening but it is not possible to apply this model to an InkJet Printer at all!

The fire happened, in September '11 the fire brigade found no clues as to cause. The Insurance investigators also found nothing, ignoring some items that pointed to vandalism or worse. We were 300Km away, the house was empty. It is isolated on its own land.

We have theories, but the insurance company only looks at anything that could incriminate us, ignoring the more obvious, their one aim is to save them paying out for the loss - a very considerable sum!

I guess the Printer manufacturers will get involved if this progresses, HP reacted very rapidly to the 'fire' report and that was theoretical. This would be an actual fire being blamed on a printer and the effect on their businesses if allowed to be publicised could be devastating!

 

[InkCartridges]

Your welcome,

Yeah I guess that your best bet for help in this situation in this case is HP themselves, they understand the printers well, and they would be very keen to get rid of the very doubtful printer theory.

Keep us updated if you can it's a very interesting story

 

[updateme]

Wow, Brother printers, who knew..