This past Christmas, a hacker reportedly stumbled upon a back door to Linksys and Netgear DSL modems that allow an attacker to reset the router’s configuration and gain Admin access. Not good!
Some routers have this “back door” open to the local computer network while others are open to the Internet side of things, opening up users of these devices to remote Internet attacks. This essentially means that someone could easily gain access to the network and all files located on it.
In the past, this may have taken weeks or months to get out, leaving plenty of time for the manufacturer to get in contact with their clients, right? Not so anymore. In this instance, the exploit was promptly posted up to GitHub in a PowerPoint explaining all of the details and how to exploit the devices. Many others started trying this out (just for fun, of course), and confirmations started flooding in immediately for all to see.
The Bottom Line: If you are concerned at all about the security of the data on your network, you need to have a real, business-class firewall and router in your office. These days, it doesn’t pay to go cheap on IT security.
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