A recent report on an earlier incident vividly demonstrates that SPAM can sometimes be a good thing:

SPAM Text Kills Suicide Bomber, Saves Hundreds

A Russian women who was preparing for a suicide bomb attack intended to take place on New Years day had used her cell phone as the trigger for the bomb.

The text message that arrived early and triggered the bomb was a SPAM message wishing her a Happy New Year.

One terrorist dead. Two accomplices believed to have escaped.

According to a Russian report.

ON A MORE SERIOUS NOTE: A demonstration presentation has been announced for the ShmooCon 2011 convention in Washington, D.C. this weekend, that will show that YOUR PRINTER can be hacked, and once the hacker has access to the printer the rest of any network (or other devices?) connected to that printer may be vulnerable.

Especially if you have a wireless printer connected to your computer, you may need to - as a minimum - set a good password for the printer to prevent someone from hacking directly into the printer even if (as were sure you've done) you have already set password protection for the "wireless network" the printer is on.

Any two devices using a wireless connection constitute a "network" with respect to this vulnerability.

While not mentioned in the Security News Daily Report it is likely that each wireless device that can communicate with your computer needs to be individually "password protected" - as a minimum - to avoid exposing everything on your computer. The article does suggest the need to check with the printer mfr occasionally for security updates.

I'll wait to see the presentation reception before resorting to panic, but appropriate caution is advised on the part of anyone who might have a printer potentially vulnerable to "outside influences."

John