FBI Warns of Russian Hacking

[THE PILGRIM]

Here we go again!
The FBI has detected widespread hacking by the Russians.
Time to take action!
That would be unplug and reboot your router.
How long?
I heard a local radio show computer geek say 2-3 minutes.
So I did 3.
Contrary to a popular belief, you do not have to be assimilated!

FBI asks Americans to reboot their routers to stop VPNFilter malware

 

[Scorpion520AZ]

Interesting FBI acknowledgement. Damn Russians, and all this time I've been blaming Xfinity and NetFlix lol. Occasional reboots are a good idea.

 

[Watchdog]

The Russians are coming!
The Russians are coming!

 

[NYlakesider]

We have had a bunch of power outs this year, my electronic stuff has been rebooted a few times in the last month! The last about a week ago!

 

[ladder13]

Billions spent on corporate and national security and we get “unplug”?

 

[500SNW]

For starters, after the shameful events of the past two years...I have ZERO trust in the FBI or anything it says. Assuming for a moment the claims in this article are true...TBH I could care less. What the "Russians" will see is a lot of is me visiting this forum and watching Youtube videos...mostly gun channels. I might check the local weather radar occasionally as well. If the Russian government wants to waste millions of rubles spying on home PC's like mine...go for it I say.

 

[ace22]

The Russians are coming!
The Russians are coming!

yes they are!

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOZuLD1u_K4[/ame]

 

[hoc9sw]

Well, as stupid as some want to portray this as, it is painfully easy to hack a wireless router and redirect the traffic it handles to an intermediate site and trap all the data passing by.

Most routers in the past had common "admin" passwords and logins. The same for every box that was produced in that company. You had the option to change it (I did), but I am one of very few.

With recent stuff, the ID and password combos are a bit more secure, but if these guys hack the routines, the secret is out.

I see hundreds of pings against my router every day. Because I have two in a chain, very little gets through.

Don't discount this.

 

[BLUEDOT37]

Several articles I read also suggested to update your router's firmware. My router (5 years old) is one of the one's on a list of those most vulnerable.

I checked for an update & the last one was in 2014. Doesn't look like it's important enough for the manufacturer's to support.

A current model router I looked at also used the "admin" password. Buyer's need to change it or be at risk.

.

 

[Absalom]

For starters, after the shameful events of the past two years...I have ZERO trust in the FBI or anything it says....

Sounds like the Russians have accomplished one of their goals

 

[hoc9sw]

Several articles I read also suggested to update your router's firmware. My router (5 years old) is one of the one's on a list of those most vulnerable.

I checked for an update & the last one was in 2014. Doesn't look like it's important enough for the manufacturer's to support.

A current model router I looked at also used the "admin" password. Buyer's need to change it or be at risk.

.

Although it seems a bit malicious, this is the opportunity to kick us in the arse to upgrade old hardware.

I was caught in a case where W10 no longer supports my (10 year old, no longer supported) now secondary router's security options. So my (great guy) neighbor lets me use his wireless for my W10 machine. For the rest, I plugged in an intermediate one that is good for this week, but is also "obsolete", to a degree.

I'll have to buy a new router, but with chemo bills every two weeks, it is on the bottom of the priority list.

 

[rwsmith]

My new and sophisticated router......

...has a RESET button, unlike the one I had a couple of years ago that you had to unplug AND remove the battery.

It doesn't cost anything to reboot the thing and only takes a few minute for it to boot back up

You know, when someone says 'Russians' or 'Chinese' or 'North Koreans' it MAY not mean that the government is involved in all of these attacks. A lot of destructive chaos has been perpetrated by individuals or groups with exceptional skill. This means that perhaps Vladimir Putin, Li Keqiang or Kim Jong Un may not have ordered 'attacks on the US'. But then again they might, especially in the case of Kim Jong Un.: We have independent groups here in the US that like to fool with governments and corporations at their whims and with impunity without oversight.

 

[LoboGunLeather]

My understanding of how the internet works is that there are a number of hubs through which all traffic passes, administered by an international body supposedly committed to keeping everything functioning for all legitimate users.

My question is: Why can't the powers that be simply shut down all traffic routed through servers identified as sources of harmful content? It would seem to me that a first time cut-off of a week or two, a second-time shut-down for a month or two, and a strike-three-you're-out approach would encourage more self-policing by the profit makers involved.

Maybe that is just my naïve reaction. Perhaps others can enlighten us less technology-savvy types.

 

[johngalt]

My question is: Why can't the powers that be simply shut down all traffic routed through servers identified as sources of harmful content?

Everything would get shut down. The bad guys use servers that are used by everyone, including legitimate traffic.