Hisham Sarwar
As alarming as it sounds, you should factory reset your home and office wireless router as soon as possible. FBI urges everyone to reboot the router to stop a wide spreading Russian Malware.
In a public service announcement on Friday, FBI urges every one with home, office router to immediately reboot their devices to avoid stealing of their important data. Foreign cyber warriors have compromised hundreds of thousands of routers worldwide, FBI said in the announcement.
According to a Cisco’s Talos Intelligence Group report, the Malware called VPNfilter has already infected about half a million routers and networks worldwide. VPNfilter can steal your login and passwords and can also monitor any infected systems. It is believed that this Malware is developed by Sofacy Group, a Russian hacking group.
In the past, similar Malware by Russian cyber warriors surfaced on earth which gives an indication that, VPNFilter is likely to be state sponsored as well.
We recommend that users of SOHO routers and/or NAS devices reset them to factory defaults and reboot them – Cisco Talos
Here is how you can reboot your router as advised by the FBI.
- Most routers have a small hole on the rear of the device.
- Stick the tip of a pin inside the hole.
- Press the pin down, hold for roughly ten seconds and your router will restart.
