Malware Silently Alters Router Settings - Change Your Router Passwords!

Not your password for Windows — you may or may not change that, based on your personal preference (or if at work, based on the requirements of your employer's network).

I'm talking about changing your passwords on your wireless routers and wired routers.

Whether you use a Linksys router, a DLink router, a Belkin route, or one of the many other brands of routers, whether you use wireless or regular Ethernet connnections with your router, change the password from the default password — now!.

In my security articles on routers, I have long recommended that you change the router's password. Sure, it can't be accessed from the Internet side of the router, but if you manage to pick up some automated malware or a trojan that gives remote control of your computer to someone else, you may find your router subverted. It may run all of your requests through their system, so they can log and analyze your actions, passwords, etc.

Well, the automated malware that I've long predicted has now been found in the wild. The Washington Post's blog reports that a recent version of the Zlob trojan (also known as DNSChanger) looks for routers that still use the default router passwords. If it finds them, it routes the victim's communications through their system.

You can read the Washington Post blog entry here. Note that, although the article's title says "wireless", the article specifically says "wireless or wired" and the example Linksys BEFSR41 is a wired router.

Copyright © 2008 Terry A. Stockdale. All rights reserved.