Printer brother wifi

Privacy Questions
1

I just bought a brother printer and was wondering if the software is safe to use privacy wise?

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2

I’m in the middle of choosing a wifi printer as well!

I just started doing research and it seems safest to go for the big brands like Canon. Epson etc.

However, Don’t buy the cheapest product they have because they’ll most likely contain extra software for the user to install 3rd party apps which allows them to sell printers at such a low price. This goes for laptops/desktops as well.

I came across amazing devices that are unknown brands that are inkless printers, but they’re unknown brands…

3

You do not need to install ANY software to use it.

Just connect it to a test network and dump the traffic.

I’ve verified that my ~2017 Brother never tries to connect anywhere, which is nice.

You should consider wiring it if you can since they often don’t support EAP or WPA3, so no PFS.

There is also an open-source helper to update the firmware here: GitHub - CauldronDevelopmentLLC/oh-brother: A simple cross-platform utility written in Python which can update Brother printer firmwares

4 Likes
4

Totally agree with SkewedZeppelin here.

Just wanted to say I had no idea what this thread would he about at first before clicking on it haha.

You bought a printer for your brother? Your brother bought a printer? Your brother bought you a printer? Your brother’s printer has wifi? Oh brother, this printer needs wifi? My Brother brand printer needs wifi?

So many possibilities :slight_smile:

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5

lmao!

Thanks!

6

Know nothing regarding Brother wifi-printers, but with Epson, connecting to wifi is dead simple:

  • unbox your printer and power it up,
  • press WPS button on your router,
  • (within 60 seconds) long-press wifi button on your printer.

Thats it really. Printer will show up in Printers window of your operating system.

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7

Thanks, will test it out later!

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8

WPS is highly insecure and should be disabled.

9

@SkewedZeppelin lets not be paranoid…
in public networks yes; in private networks (at home and/or small office) its perfectly OK

10

I just spent 2h trying to make it work and I’m giving up (first time using Python).

Most hardware like this normally is super simple to update firmware. Download file. Put in a USB. Plug USB. Start Update.

I can’t seem to do that here.

If I decided not to connect the printer at all to the internet, is a firmware update necessary?