Canon is warning businesses about a potential security problem that may arise after discarding printers. The problem is the Wi-Fi data does not erase itself, although it should.
If you decide to resell a Canon printer after the device has been running in your business for a few years, you will have to delete the Wi-Fi data from the printer manually. This should happen automatically during the recovery process but is not happening due to a bug in Canon printers. Canon is now warning about the error itself. A list of printers containing the error can be found here.
Accessing your corporate network
Wi-Fi data includes the SSID, network password, network type, assigned IP address, MAC address and network profile. If you resell the printer or turn it in for repair, this data is enough to break into your corporate network. That gives the opportunity to steal data, spread malware or access shared documents.
To remove the data from the printer, go to the “Reset all” function, where you disable the wireless LAN. If the feature is missing, you will find this option on the printer under the ‘Reset LAN’ function.