Regarding cybersecurity threats and attacks, most people are familiar with mainly include phishing, malware attacks, and data breaches. However, not so many people know much about spooling attacks and how they can deal with them. If you are reading this article, you are probably interested in learning more about spooling attacks and how to combat them as an individual or organisation.
This article will explain all the details about spoiling attacks to make it easy for anyone to know what they are about. I will also discuss some of the most reliable ways to deal with spooling attacks to protect your organisation from being the next victim. Without any further ado, let’s jump right in!
What is Spooling?
The term spooling is derived from the acronym SPOOL, which stands for Simultaneous Peripheral Operation On-Line. SPOOL is the ability of any device, including computer mice, keyboards, or printers, to temporarily store data that is required to execute a task in the queue. For instance, if several computers send a document to be printed, the printer temporarily stores the data of these documents until they are all printed out.
Spooling is important in computing because it enables devices to execute tasks much faster. After all, they can easily access data for the next task once the current one is done. Most of the devices designed to use Spooling aren’t designed to be super-fast, so they need to temporarily store data for the next task in order to boost their speed at executing the tasks assigned to them.
Why do hackers use spooling attacks?
Hackers love spooling devices because they usually don’t have sophisticated security mechanisms to prevent anyone from accessing them. For instance, accessing a printer doesn’t require any sophisticated authentication like a computer. So, it becomes pretty easy for attackers to target these devices.
Before using a device like a printer, a computer has to install drivers that allow the printing task to be executed. However, any computer can install these drivers since most printers don’t have sophisticated security features to determine the devices that access them. This makes it risky since attackers can send malicious code to any of the computers connected to this printer if they are not well protected. The attackers can also overwhelm the printer with many tasks causing it to crash or get damaged.
It should also be noted that most of the printer networks use Windows Print Spooler, a software that is over 20 years old. Windows Print Spooler is not regularly updated, so it contains several security flaws and vulnerabilities that attackers can easily exploit.
How are spooling attacks executed?
One of the common spooling attacks includes overwhelming the target device with many tasks, which makes it unusable. Such attacks are referred to as Denial of Service (DoS) attacks. Attackers can also send tasks that are intentionally designed to crash or damage the target device. It is usually hard to detect these attacks since the admins may assume the traffic sent to these devices is coming from legitimate devices that are supposed to access them.
Besides overwhelming the device with many demanding tasks, attackers can also send malicious code to the other computers connected to the target device. This code might be aimed at phishing data from the computers or causing any other harm that might interrupt the usage of the affected computers.
How to deal with spooling attacks
Now that you know what spooling attacks are, let me take you through some of the reliable ways to avoid being the next victim of these attacks.
Use network monitoring devices to detect malicious requests
One of the most reliable ways for detecting spooling attacks is using network monitoring devices that can detect unusual traffic that is trying to access the targeted devices. As we shared earlier, printers are usually the main targets. Monitoring devices can filter printing requests and deny access to those coming from unfamiliar devices from the network.
Use a firewall
A firewall is basically a hardware or software barrier between a computer and the internet to determine the traffic that gets access to the computer. Using a reliable firewall can help you block attackers from sending malicious code to your device through your network. So, even if one of the devices, such as the printer, is compromised, your organisation’s computer will still be safeguarded from the spooling attacks that could be done through the printer.
Educating your staff about spooling attacks
Your staff needs to be aware of the signs of a spooling attack. Some of these signs may include devices like printers becoming irresponsive even when they are not being utilised by anyone in the office. Such signs should be reported immediately to the responsible parties so that necessary investigation and action is taken before the attackers compromise or damage the devices.
Software installation should be restricted to a few users
When setting up company computers, the IT team needs to configure user roles that give each employee access to certain depending on how well they are conversant about the common cybersecurity attacks. For instance, if the essential tools your staff need to do their work are installed on their computer, there is no need to allow them to install the software.
This prevents scenarios of installing drivers on a device that is already compromised by attackers. These restrictions are even more necessary for organisations with many employees. Having clear roles for everyone makes it easy to investigate spooling attacks since the possible points of attack are already known.
Install security patches as soon as they are available
Due to the increasing number of spooling attacks, Microsoft and OEMs for computers and their accessories are constantly releasing software/firmware updates to fix vulnerabilities. For instance, Microsoft recently released a security patch for the print Spooler vulnerability. Hp has also recently released updates that fix bugs and security vulnerabilities in over 150 printer models.
Do routine cyber security audits.
Every organisation that uses computers and the internet must carry out some form of cyber security audit after a given period. This period can be determined based on the size of the company and its level of security risks. For instance, companies in sensitive sectors like security or health need to carry out these audits more often since they are the main targets for most attackers.
Implementing all the above strategies internally can sometimes be time-consuming, more costly, and ineffective. Outsourcing your security operations to a third-party company is always the best option.
Let’s share some more benefits of hiring a cybersecurity service provider in the next section.
Why you should outsource your security operations to a cybersecurity company
Many companies usually don’t put enough emphasis on the security of their IT infrastructure to the extent of not even including it in their budget. However, it is crucial that you invest in the security of your company’s IT infrastructure because one cyber-attack can potentially put you out of business.
Outsourcing IT security will enable your organisation to deal with spooling attacks along with several other benefits, including;
Carrying out periodic penetration testing and security audits
This includes testing your networks and all the devices of your IT infrastructure to look for any vulnerabilities that attackers could exploit if not patched. The cybersecurity service provider will also prepare a report about the test with recommendations of what your company should do to mitigate any potential attacks. They will also advise your company about the vulnerabilities to handle based on the risk level of each.
Your IT will no longer handle security issues.
If your company is relatively large with an IT team, you might have noticed that a significant percentage of their time is spent on security-related issues. This time will be well spent if your IT team is only required to handle the core tasks that they know to do best. In the end, transferring all the security-related tasks to a cybersecurity service provider like Wizard Cyber will make your IT team more efficient at their core tasks.
Cybersecurity service providers are more experienced than the in-house team.
Service providers like Wizard Cyber have security experts that have been in the game for decades. Hiring a cybersecurity provider will give you access to such experts. Your IT team and the rest of the employees can also learn from these experts on how to improve the cybersecurity of the organisation.
Final thoughts
We have covered most of the basics about spooling attacks and what you need to do to avoid them. These attacks are not so common and can often be ignored. However, attackers can take advantage of this negligence to compromise your IT infrastructure through spooling attacks. For the best protection, we recommend outsourcing your security operations to a competent service provider to take care of all the spooling attacks and any other cybersecurity threats your organisation might face.
