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A new analysis by Kaspersky shows that most of the critical router vulnerabilities discovered in 2021 remain unpatched. The vulnerabilities threaten the security of millions of devices set up every day at home and at work.
A total of 506 vulnerabilities were discovered in 2021, including 87 critical ones. Almost a third of critical vulnerabilities remain unresponsive from vendors, while another 26% received only a comment from the organization.
The total number of vulnerabilities continued a trend that began in 2020 when there were 603 new vulnerabilities, roughly three times the totals from each of the previous two years.
Critical vulnerabilities are the most unprotected “holes” through which an attacker can penetrate a home or corporate network. Such vulnerabilities can allow the attacker to bypass authentication, send remote commands to a router, or even disable it. Attackers can steal any data or files transmitted over an infected network. An attacker can also use an infected router to redirect users to phishing sites disguised as popular webmail or online banking sites. Any data they enter on these sites, such as login and password from the email or bank card details, fall immediately into the hands of scammers.
Threats emanating from vulnerable Internet routers can impact businesses. Criminals may try to steal confidential company information, such as B. Contracts sent by email. Smaller organizations often don’t have the expertise or resources to detect or understand a threat before it’s too late. User inaction is particularly dangerous when routers are used in sensitive environments such as hospitals or government buildings, where a data leak could have potentially serious repercussions.
Security experts recommend always changing default passwords, installing updates on time, never buying used smart home devices, using WPA2 encryption, disabling remote access in the router settings, choosing a static IP address, disabling DHCP and that Protect WLAN with a MAC filter. Users should also install security solutions that can protect their networks and connected devices.
Read Kaspersky’s full report.
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