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| Thousands of routers are under attack globally |
The router is one of the most important devices in any home or office. In fact, these are the devices that are responsible for connecting users to the Internet, whether it is through Wi-Fi or through a wired connection.
Routers made before 2016 are very risky. Because hackers can successfully hack it online without even approaching it.
Serious vulnerabilities have been discovered in a large number of types of routers. It is sold by multiple companies in 65 countries around the world.
Routers are vulnerable to hacking attacks
These dangerous devices were manufactured and sold between 2010 and 2015. Some devices prior to 2004 faced the same risks. This incident was discovered by IoT Inspector, a German information security company.
According to the survey results, hundreds of thousands of routers around the world currently have these vulnerabilities.
If the hacker succeeds in exploiting it, he will be able to take full control of the hacker’s device and execute code remotely on the victim’s device.
In fact, some breaches were discovered by hacking groups prior to the publication of the IoT Inspector report. This means that some people are aware of these vulnerabilities and have been exploited.
The vulnerability depends on your ability to remotely access the router's control panel, after which hackers can control it as much as they want.
According to the available information, it is not enough to deactivate the remote control access function via the router settings to prevent hackers from gaining access to the device.
Realtek's WLAN chip also has this weak point. As IoT Inspector said, Realtek was notified of this in May. However, on August 13, the company released an update to some devices running on its recent chips to address the vulnerability.
Although Realtek has experienced significant delays, it has clarified that it will not send updates to some older devices.
What should I do
If your router is new, meaning it was produced in 2015 or later, you may get an update that can fill this gap, but if your device is old, the best solution is to buy a new router.
If your device is older than 2015, it probably won't be upgraded from scratch, and the best solution is to buy a new one.
You can view the list of affected devices from this link.