WARNING: HOME ROUTER HACK

[Bambino]

This has apparently affected 500,000 routers worldwide, so it might be a good idea to read this to protect yourselves.

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/russia-router-hacking-cyber-attack-ho...

[Anonymous]

Yes thanks for the heads up. I saw this myself yesterday & did wonder was it specifically targeting certain routers

[jonsie]

Thanks for this information @Bambino.

This all just seems so like the Trump administration spreading fear and an apparent further attack on Russian relations. I think we give their cyber-hackers far too much credit to be honest. Are they really wanting to wage a cyber war or is yet another fantasy by the FBI and CIA? Why would they want to hack everyone's router? Are relations that bad?  The fact is that anyone from whatever country could do this if they were so inclined but Russia seems to be the popular choice or maybe it's all a just a myth. However the advice is correct, no one should retain the original router password supplied by your provider or a manufacturer and always check for security updates.

[Anonymous]

This is state department sabre rattling in the general, 'well al-qaeda aren't really cutting it as enemies du jour any more so we need to rattle the bear and dragon cages' , mode, to justify the multi trillion dollar military industrial spend.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPHSXUS0_1c

It's the same as Kaspersky, Huawei and all the other ridiculous scare stories the Trump adminstration promulgate, Huawei being the most asinine as half the American Telecom Networks were manufactured by them, but we can't let the folks have their phones.

All home routers are running firewalls, and self update or are easy to update.

Windows and other devices linked are also running firewalls and are unlikely to be targeted in any case  cos - why would you? Why  target millions of little routers? much better to go after the big corporations the 02 servers or the NHS or whatever. Corporations are usually way behind on Windows implementations and are a lot more vunerable and lucrative..

[Anonymous]

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@jonsie wrote:

?  The fact is that anyone from whatever country could do this if they were so inclined but Russia seems to be the popular choice or maybe it's all a just a myth. .

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I think there is pretty strong evidence linking the Chinese military to major cyber attacks on key nato systems and western organisations but as I say it's only ever really going to be strategically or economically significant targets. And ordinary home routers are neither.

[Cleoriff]

Thanks for the heads up @Bambino.

"Already affected 500,000 routers worldwide apparently"....That's enough to cause concern.

[jonsie]

The figure of 500,000 worldwide worries me. Just how do they arrive at these figures? Have they hacked the routers themselves?

[Bambino]

Yes, @Cleoriff. This is an advisory from the router manufacturer at the heart of all this: 

https://kb.netgear.com/000058814/Security-Advisory-for-VPNFilter-Malware-on-Some-Routers

They have patched the problem, but many people don't update their firmware, or make sure that their home routers aren't vulnerable. There's no harm in warning people of a potential threat.

Edit: This, also, is the link to the original security advisory:

https://blog.talosintelligence.com/2018/05/VPNFilter.html

[Korkmaz]

They blame Russia for everything these days. It's ridiculous. Western rulers are desperate for World War 3 😞