Russian router hack

With all of the headlines about potential vulnerabilities and hacks through IoT-enabled devices, there’s a much more prevalent way to get got.

The inherent risks of a hack or service-provider compromise connected to common digital devices are known. Consumers are willing to accept these risks in exchange for the convenience offered by those devices. So, it should be no surprise how common it is overlook a truly inconvenient truth: The threat is much more widespread.  

If you have a router (and you almost certainly do) then you may be more vulnerable than ever in 2018.

In a joint statement from the US Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as well as the UK National Cyber Security Centre, comes a warning about Russian hackers exploiting vulnerabilities in routers and other network infrastructure devices to conduct, among many possible operations, man-in-the-middle attacks.

Although the exact goals aren’t clear, they have warned about potential espionage, IP theft, activities associated with election tampering, and attacking power grids.

The US and UK governments are urging consumers to change default router passwords, and replace older devices without proper cybersecurity safeguards.

Read more about the warning here.