Can you command an HP printer to catch fire?

This time around, we turn the all-seeing VideoScope on claims that hackers can nip around the world, enter your HP printer through its back entrance and plant a command that will cause it to self-destruct. Hot stuff.

During the first Iraq war, rumours flew that IBM printers were being used by American intelligence services, in order to hack into IBM mainframes and bring down the Iraqi defence network. It later transpired that donkeys of the republican guard could actually be stopped with a handful of drug-laced carrots – but we weren't to know that.

So, can you command an HP printer to blow its top?  Let's see.

KitGuru says: While there will always be ghosts in the machine, they don't often result in death and destruction. From what we can tell, the most dangerous thing you can do with a printer is to either (a) wrap the power cord around your neck or (b) put the toner in a bag and breathe it. Neither of which we recommend. The only burning sensation recommended by KitGuru is passion.

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