In an age of big data, cloud computing and a heavy reliance on computer equipment and online infrastructure for day-to-day business operations, the biggest part of IT support often involves ensuring that any data used by the business remains secure.
One major lesson that a lot of businesses learn is that the biggest security threats come in two forms: some are highly advanced and creative hacks which exploit vulnerabilities in code, whilst others are rather less sophisticated and rely on social engineering to exploit weaknesses in people.
In both cases, the exploits can be remarkably unusual in nature and have somewhat unexpected consequences.
A recent example of this was how an attempt by Microsoft Windows to maintain compatibility with old fax machine modems led to an exploit that theoretically put every computer running Windows at risk for 19 years until it was patched out in October 2025.
With that in mind, here are some very unusual hacks, exploits and viruses that provide essential lessons for users in how to keep themselves and their businesses safe.
Getting In Through The Fish Tank
Data theft can be extremely costly, irrespective of the market sector, but in an industry where even the slightest tell can provide a huge advantage, data integrity is absolutely vital and should be protected at all costs.
Casinos, filled with high-rolling gamblers and almost unfathomable amounts of money, need to be particularly secure to ensure that the house always wins.
Unfortunately, one casino had a fish tank connected to the internet, and this was enough for a hacking group to access the insecure thermostat and exploit this vulnerability to gain access to the high rollers’ database, ultimately escaping with 10 gigabytes worth of valuable information.
This is perhaps the greatest reminder in cybersecurity that a security system is only as strong as its weakest link, and that you should be wary of any device connected to your networks, no matter how innocuous.
A Digital Fingerprint
Often, an exploit takes highly advanced cybersecurity experts working with responsive software that looks for the likely signs of a potential attack to discover, as was the case with the aquarium hack above.
In other cases, it simply takes an act of monumental stupidity on the part of a potential hacker.
Biometric scanners are often used by businesses as part of access control systems or for timekeeping, as they are far more difficult to break into compared to a password, PIN or set of keys.
They are not infallible, however, and if the authentication system has a vulnerability, there are ways to exploit it and undermine the whole system.
In one now-infamous cybersecurity tale, an enterprising hacker found a weakness in the biometric security of a luxury goods company, but was undone by one of the stupidest decisions ever made in the history of cybercrime.
Realising he can add fingerprints to the system and give himself access, he uploaded his own prints and deleted authorised fingerprints.
The problem with this is that a criminal uploaded his own fingerprints at the scene of the crime, the digital equivalent of committing a robbery with paint on your hands.
An automated system picked up the unauthorised access, and the fingerprints were quickly passed to the police.
Despite this, it does prove that even the most secure systems need to be checked for potential vulnerabilities to avoid an unpleasant surprise.
Hundreds Of Thousands Of Printers Get “Owned”
Print servers are a vital part of any office, and even paperless offices will keep an MFD around to scan documents and print off vital information such as invoices or receipts.
However, print servers need to be kept as secure as possible, particularly if they allow remote access for people working from home to print files out, as this could potentially expose them to potential security vulnerabilities.
As reported by the BBC in 2017, over 150,000 printers that could be accessed online were hacked using an automated script created by a white hat hacker known as ‘stackoverflowin’.
They sent rogue print jobs to any printer which have left open ports for Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) and Line Printer Daemon (LPD), as well as port 9100, leaving behind a joke message, some very hacker-like ASCII art of robots and a warning to close the port.
Whilst this was a relatively harmless hack, other than scaring some till operators, remotely accessing printers can have particularly nefarious uses for hackers.
They can print hateful or illegal material using your company’s printer, or even create endless jobs that force a printer out of service entirely.