Image: Getty
While tens of thousands of hackers gear up to attend hacker week in Las Vegas, UPS is taking basic precautions to protect itself from any malicious links.
The Caesar’s Palace UPS store is warning hotel guest that its printing services will be limited in anticipation of DEF CON, the world’s oldest and largest hacker conference, which takes place from July 27 to July 30.
“Due to the DEF CON Hacking Convention, we will be accepting email print jobs with attachments only,” the UPS sign reads. “We will not accept USB prints or any links. We apologise for the inconvenience.”
Image: CSO Online
Email attachments can be as potentially malicious as URLs and USBs. It’s unclear what made them decide to keep attachments over USB thumb drives and links.
We have reached out to UPS, and will update this post when we hear back.
UPS is no stranger to hacks. 51 UPS stores were compromised by malware back in 2014 — about 1 per cent of its stores at the time.
As for Defcon, attendees are always warned to take extra precaution when using public networks and computers, since hackers take advantage of the event to tamper with online security and spread malware.
Experts usually recommend disabling Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity during a convention such as DEF CON. If you must use Wi-Fi, they recommend using your own hotspot network. It’s also recommended that you avoid plugging in anything into your computer that’s not yours. That includes network cables and USBs.
UPS told Gizmodo that the Store at Caesar’s Palace “has taken this precaution to protect their customers during the Def Con Hacking convention.”
[CSO Online via The Verge]