Hacking IDN printer data 1

[EricCali]

Hi, all -

It seems like this forum is the go-to place for Micros questions, so here goes:

I'm working on a project to see if I can grab data going to several legacy IDN-connected printers so I can send that data off to a server for analysis.

Here's the question: I have several IDN printers connected in an unknown configuration. However, I do see a printer that only is connected via IDN1. If I install an IDN-to-serial cable on IDN2, will I see all data sent from the POS to *any* of the printers?

Thanks in advance for any pointers and help.

 

[Moregelen]

If you physically intercept the IDN cable for that one printer, you will only see commands being sent to that specific printer. The IDN cable is basically just acting as a serial cable. If all your printers are IP printers, you could setup a network sniffer to watch for traffic (you'd still miss some of course, but it isn't encrypted). You could also potentially see the network traffic when another workstation sends a print job to the workstation directly connected to the printer. The only thing coming down that IDN line though is going to be data for that specific printer.

 

[EricCali]

Thanks so much for your help, Moregelen. IDN is sort of a black box, but I think this helped me really save some time! Thanks again!