Hackers Attack Businesses’ Printers, Make Them Print “Antiwork” Messages Instead Of Receipts
Some people are taking the Great Resignation really seriously and are fighting for its ideas even outside of their own workplace.
Employees across the United States are finding that their store receipt printers are spamming pro-labor and pro-union messages as hackers exploit them through wireless networks.
Trying to reach those who need it the most—the underpaid, undervalued, and overworked—these messages encourage workers to discuss their wages, demand better conditions, and value their time and selves outside of their career, often directing the readers to the subreddit r/AntiWork, which has exploded in popularity in recent months.
It looks like the ideas put forth by the Great Resignation continue to spread
Image credits: Mage_Bit
As hackers exploit business printers through wireless networks to send employees antiwork manifestos
Image credits: Mage_Bit
Image credits: reddit
One of the people who received such a receipt is Redditor Kiwi_Koalla.
“My coworkers and I returned to work after being closed for Thanksgiving and nearly all of our Grubhub receipt printers (we work in a campus food court) had long sheets printed out with the same 4-5 messages on them,” Kiwi_Koalla told Bored Panda. “It was a slow day with minimal staff so not many people saw the message but it’s continued to print a few times a day so I’m sure by now they all have seen it.”
That includes their shift supervisor. “They checked the [subreddit] and deemed it ‘boring’ so I don’t think my bosses feel threatened,” Kiwi_Koalla said, laughing.
“We’re already unionized at my place of work and wages are pretty clearly defined (we have different ranges for different positions, depending on experience and length of time worked, and our union keeps those moving together), so there isn’t much anyone in my workplace can take away from it except maybe to talk to the union about raising wages again, but that’s a pretty much constant negotiation anyway.”
Kiwi_Koalla thinks this whole receipt thing is “ridiculous” and lacks coordination to be taken seriously. “It’s clearly not a concentrated effort from the community or the mods at r/AntiWork. If someone who had never used Reddit before saw that and went to the site, they would get nothing of value,” they explained. “The receipts all say ‘Learn more on r/AntiWork but what are they supposed to learn?”
“When you visit the site, there are no pinned posts like ‘Interested in starting a union? Check out these sources’ or ‘Mysterious receipt bring you here? Get started by clicking this post.’ It’s all people complaining about their bosses and working on holidays and having vacations denied. The mods aren’t in on this. It’s one loner or maybe a small group sort of trying to be part of the labor movement but they’re on the wrong track. r/unions has a more helpful message, and better guidance on how one should move forward if they’re interested.”
Image credits: Kiwi_Koalla
Image credits: Initial_Ad5129
Image credits: BuffWild
MunificentDance is another Redditor who was surprised by a batch of these receipts. “They just showed up at the printer which prints the orders,” they told Bored Panda.
“I think [parts of their message are] somewhat misleading but I overall agree with the sentiment.”
MunificentDance said their higher-ups also saw the receipts by they chose to ignore the whole thing.
“I knew about r/AntiWork before this, I like the subreddit and it’s nice to see people fighting against the system.”
Image credits: MunificentDancer
Image credits: MunificentDancer
As journalists from Motherboard have pointed out, there are countless similar posts on r/Antiwork and some Redditors have suggested that the messages are fake (i.e. produced by people who have access to a receipt printer and posted for online clout or as part of a conspiracy to make it seem like the subreddit is doing something illegal).
But Andrew Morris, the founder of GreyNoise, a cybersecurity firm that monitors the internet, told Motherboard that his firm has seen actual network traffic going to insecure receipt printers, and that it looks like someone or even multiple people are sending these printing jobs all over the internet indiscriminately, as if spraying or blasting them all over. Morris has a history of catching hackers exploiting insecure printers.
“Someone is using a similar technique as ‘mass scanning’ to massively blast raw TCP data directly to printer services across the internet,” Morris said. “Basically to every single device that has port TCP 9100 open and print a pre-written document that references r/AntiWork with some workers rights/counter capitalist messaging.”
The media has picked up on the news
Image credits: LaurenKGurley
Whoever is behind this, Morris said, they’re doing it “in an intelligent way.”
“The person or people behind this are distributing the mass-print from 25 separate servers so blocking one IP isn’t enough,” he explained.
“A technical person is broadcasting print requests for a document containing workers rights messaging to all printers that are misconfigured to be exposed to the internet and we’ve confirmed that it is printing successfully in some number of places the exact number would be difficult to confirm but Shodan suggests that thousands of printers are exposed,” he said, referring to Shodan, a tool that scans the internet for insecure computers, servers, and other devices.
The history of hackers exploiting insecure printers is pretty rich. A few years ago, for example, one of them made printers spit out promotions for YouTuber PewDiePie. In 2017, another hacker made printers spread a message where they were bragging and calling themselves “the hacker god.”
And people are loving it
Image credits: AthertonKD
Image credits: evan_greer
Image credits: DethVeggie
Image credits: chainbear
Image credits: Not_CharLatte
Image credits: katewillett
Image credits: sighmonger
Image credits: FearlessSon
Image credits: InnateOptimist
Image credits: Xpropiese
Image credits: atrumbled
If you can’t afford to pay your employees like $20-25 an hour minimum then you kinda deserve to go out of business. I say this as a business owner. But the flip side of that is that many (most) workers are very stupid and not super valuable. They’re only worth $20-25 because anything less is slavery at this point. When you have employees who are actually worth something, then they deserve even more of course.
To add to that, if your business cannot survive a small increase in end-user price, then it isn't a very good product or service (or it's one which is completely unnecessary) in the first place.
I know quite a few businesses that cannot afford workers on that rate. Instead, they hire students for "internships" that are subsidized by the government. What they have in common? They all are small craft businesses. Some have won prizes etc. People want wedding rings, custom furniture, etc, but they are not willing to pay so the people who make it can have an average salary.
Yeah, I worked for a well-known nonprofit with an army of unpaid interns. It's disgraceful.
@Vic - People (customers) are willing to pay. The business owners just aren’t good at doing business and deserve to die off. That’s how it works and that’s how it should work. They just prolong their deaths by trying to exploit poor people. They’ll die though, rightfully.
When so many businesses struggle and/or fail in the first year, or two, how will they afford the additional burden? I'm asking because I want to know how to understand this subject. As a person, you may think that you deserve a certain rate of pay; however, that doesn't mean that your work is worth that much to the owner. If an owner is struggling to make a profit, then an hour of someone's time is not worth $25 to the owner because he looses more by paying so much, than he does from his product/service income. So it won't be "worth it" for him/her to employ you (even though you feel you deserve more). I don't know where the balance is, but it seems that nobody else does either. And for those who flippantly say things like, "People (customers) are willing to pay. The business owners just aren’t good at doing business and deserve to die off...They’ll die though, rightful."
--continued: Or, "if your business cannot survive a small increase in end-user price, then it isn't a very good product or service (or it's one which is completely unnecessary) in the first place." First, don't speak on behalf of what others are willing to do, or pay. You don't know. Second, that statement is as elitist and condescending as anything overpaid CEOs would say. And even if those businesses should die off, the employees' jobs also die off. So whom are you really looking out for? Just like someone who tosses around sensationalistic statements like, "What you're really saying is you think they don't deserve to eat exist and live in this world and have a home. What you're really saying is you don't think they are worthy of pretty much existing and having what they need." Like I said, I don't know the answer, but it is clear that people who make flippant statements like these, are the actual simpletons, who add to the problem, not the solution.
I think you’re just getting emotional. That’s your first problem as a business owner. Nothing is personal. Focus on money. I speak on whatever I want and I make whatever money I want. You guys think making money is a crime just like you think asking for a living wage is a crime. It isn’t my fault you suck at business. Do you want help or not? What business do you have? Let’s start there.
I’m not a person though. I’m a business owner. And I think you and I are kind of saying the same thing. Yes, these people aren’t “worth” the money but imagine how worthless the ones willing to take lower pay are. If you’re a business owner STRUGGLING to make a profit, then take that business out to pasture and let that shît die. Then find something to do that’s more profitable. The balance is just charge customers more and pay employees enough to not be wondering how to eat and live. Simple enough. If you can’t do that, what makes you entitled to stay in business? People who suck at making money shouldn’t make it. Simple as that.
Saying someone is not worth 20-25 an hour. Or saying that most workers are not valuable and are stupid. What you're really saying is you think they don't deserve to eat exist and live in this world and have a home. What you're really saying is you don't think they are worthy of pretty much existing and having what they need. That's what so many people don't realize when they say another human being who is working doesn't deserve enough money to live. I can assure you that anyone working anywhere deserves to be able to make enough money to feed themselves have a warm home and keep up with it things they need to exist. That goes for people that you might think aren't valuable as well. Because at the end of the day they are human beings just trying to exist and live and work.
See you’re stupid too, and that’s exactly what I mean. I’d still pay you the 20-25 an hour knowing you don’t read well (since that’s not at all what I said. Actually I said the opposite). I wouldn’t pay less because anything else is practically slavery and even stupid people deserve to live. If you have any questions just refer to my original post. It’s all there, pretty much the exact thing youre saying.
Fantastic. really really great. The initiative and creativity is bloody fantastic. I hope this becomes a movement and people start the "25 or walk" en masse !
OK, but why are they calling it 'antiwork' when it seems to be encouraging working, just under better terms.
Redditors are really weird about this.
Antiwork is a subreddit, but I really think the wrong one for this manifesto. Maybe the only one this hacker frequents that's good for it?
Valid point
If you can’t afford to pay your employees like $20-25 an hour minimum then you kinda deserve to go out of business. I say this as a business owner. But the flip side of that is that many (most) workers are very stupid and not super valuable. They’re only worth $20-25 because anything less is slavery at this point. When you have employees who are actually worth something, then they deserve even more of course.
To add to that, if your business cannot survive a small increase in end-user price, then it isn't a very good product or service (or it's one which is completely unnecessary) in the first place.
I know quite a few businesses that cannot afford workers on that rate. Instead, they hire students for "internships" that are subsidized by the government. What they have in common? They all are small craft businesses. Some have won prizes etc. People want wedding rings, custom furniture, etc, but they are not willing to pay so the people who make it can have an average salary.
Yeah, I worked for a well-known nonprofit with an army of unpaid interns. It's disgraceful.
@Vic - People (customers) are willing to pay. The business owners just aren’t good at doing business and deserve to die off. That’s how it works and that’s how it should work. They just prolong their deaths by trying to exploit poor people. They’ll die though, rightfully.
When so many businesses struggle and/or fail in the first year, or two, how will they afford the additional burden? I'm asking because I want to know how to understand this subject. As a person, you may think that you deserve a certain rate of pay; however, that doesn't mean that your work is worth that much to the owner. If an owner is struggling to make a profit, then an hour of someone's time is not worth $25 to the owner because he looses more by paying so much, than he does from his product/service income. So it won't be "worth it" for him/her to employ you (even though you feel you deserve more). I don't know where the balance is, but it seems that nobody else does either. And for those who flippantly say things like, "People (customers) are willing to pay. The business owners just aren’t good at doing business and deserve to die off...They’ll die though, rightful."
--continued: Or, "if your business cannot survive a small increase in end-user price, then it isn't a very good product or service (or it's one which is completely unnecessary) in the first place." First, don't speak on behalf of what others are willing to do, or pay. You don't know. Second, that statement is as elitist and condescending as anything overpaid CEOs would say. And even if those businesses should die off, the employees' jobs also die off. So whom are you really looking out for? Just like someone who tosses around sensationalistic statements like, "What you're really saying is you think they don't deserve to eat exist and live in this world and have a home. What you're really saying is you don't think they are worthy of pretty much existing and having what they need." Like I said, I don't know the answer, but it is clear that people who make flippant statements like these, are the actual simpletons, who add to the problem, not the solution.
I think you’re just getting emotional. That’s your first problem as a business owner. Nothing is personal. Focus on money. I speak on whatever I want and I make whatever money I want. You guys think making money is a crime just like you think asking for a living wage is a crime. It isn’t my fault you suck at business. Do you want help or not? What business do you have? Let’s start there.
I’m not a person though. I’m a business owner. And I think you and I are kind of saying the same thing. Yes, these people aren’t “worth” the money but imagine how worthless the ones willing to take lower pay are. If you’re a business owner STRUGGLING to make a profit, then take that business out to pasture and let that shît die. Then find something to do that’s more profitable. The balance is just charge customers more and pay employees enough to not be wondering how to eat and live. Simple enough. If you can’t do that, what makes you entitled to stay in business? People who suck at making money shouldn’t make it. Simple as that.
Saying someone is not worth 20-25 an hour. Or saying that most workers are not valuable and are stupid. What you're really saying is you think they don't deserve to eat exist and live in this world and have a home. What you're really saying is you don't think they are worthy of pretty much existing and having what they need. That's what so many people don't realize when they say another human being who is working doesn't deserve enough money to live. I can assure you that anyone working anywhere deserves to be able to make enough money to feed themselves have a warm home and keep up with it things they need to exist. That goes for people that you might think aren't valuable as well. Because at the end of the day they are human beings just trying to exist and live and work.
See you’re stupid too, and that’s exactly what I mean. I’d still pay you the 20-25 an hour knowing you don’t read well (since that’s not at all what I said. Actually I said the opposite). I wouldn’t pay less because anything else is practically slavery and even stupid people deserve to live. If you have any questions just refer to my original post. It’s all there, pretty much the exact thing youre saying.
Fantastic. really really great. The initiative and creativity is bloody fantastic. I hope this becomes a movement and people start the "25 or walk" en masse !
OK, but why are they calling it 'antiwork' when it seems to be encouraging working, just under better terms.
Redditors are really weird about this.
Antiwork is a subreddit, but I really think the wrong one for this manifesto. Maybe the only one this hacker frequents that's good for it?
Valid point