The National Security Agency is warning Americans to reboot their routers to thwart malicious attackers targeting home networks to steal their sensitive information.
“Don’t be a victim!" the spy agency says (via Forbes). "Malicious cyber actors may leverage your home network to gain access to personal, private, and confidential information.”
The push to reboot comes as the NSA joins the FBI in warning about increasing Russian GRU attacks. For the unaware, GRU is the post-Soviet Union intelligence agency that replaced the KGB after it "dissolved" in the 1990s. The American agencies are accussing Russian cyber actors of exploiting"vulnerable" routers to steal personal and sensitive data.
According to an inter-agency report, APT28 (aka Fancy Bear) hackers “have been collecting credentials and exploiting vulnerable routers worldwide, including compromising TP-Link routers using CVE-2023-50224.”
It comes only a couple of weeks after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) effectively banned the import of all new foreign-made routers. That includes some of the best Wi-Fi 7 routers and the best mesh Wi-Fi systems. Especially ones from TP-Link.
The long and short of it is that the NSA recommends that you stop using a router that is near the end of its life or discontinued. Additionally, you should make sure your router is still supported with regular updates.
Clean up your router hygiene
The NSA's recommendations follow a number of best practices beyond just buying a new router.
For one, most people buy a router, set it up, and leave the default settings as is before going on with their lives. That's an excellent point of entry for hackers. Once a Wi-Fi router has been hacked a bad actor can get into all kinds of malicious activity from stealing your data to messing with your internet traffic or redirecting you to fake or malicious sites.
Older routers are the most vulnerable, especially if you haven't kept it up to date. Fix this by keeping your router updated and enabling a firewall - often available as a feature within the best antivirus software.
Additionally, you'll want to make sure you use a strong and unique password on your router and your internet connected devices. Make things easier for yourself by using one of the best password managers.
That all said, an older router can provide a worse online experience. It can cause a bottleneck slowing internet speeds or being unable to handle the number of connected devices in your home.
If you don't want the faster Wi-Fi 7 routers, one of the best Wi-Fi 6 routers is still a major upgrade.
All of these steps add an extra layer of protection for all the devices on your home network. Like outdated or unsupported software, an old router can put you risk, which is why you should take the NSA's recommendations seriously.
