Third-party ink cartridges brick HP printers after 'anti-virus' update

If it's possible for a virus to be embedded in a cartridge and infect the printer, or travel through the printer and infect other devices via the USB or network connection, that's a serious design flaw in the printer's firmware. It should never be attempting to execute information on the cartridge as code.

Moral of the story: Don't buy an HP printer, and if you have an HP printer, don't use it, buy a printer of another brand.

They're not HP's printers - they're consumer's printers, manufactured by HP. If a random hacker did this, they'd go to jail. Since HP has the same claim of ownership over these printers as a random hacker, I expect HP's offices will be raided by the police under CFAA and mass sabotage charges any moment.

Proud owner of a 20 year old HP all-in-one (1350v) which will. not. die. and prints nicely with the cheapest 3rd party ink from Amazon. Someday, maybe HP will return to its former glory of producing reliable equipment worth owning.

Brother. Laser. Dumb and reliable. HP is the Ubisoft of printers… blargh

Turn out HP itself is the virus.

Sad day.