FBI issues urgent warning for 13 of the most popular routers in the US

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has issued a warning regarding the safety of some of the most-used routers in the United States, with the agency warning how thirteen of them are now vulnerable to cyberattacks.

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The FBI has taken to its bulletin to publish an update from the cybersecurity team that is warning against the use of routers that have reached their end-of-life period, meaning they are no longer safe to use and now pose a significant vulnerability to both businesses and home users.

For those who don't know, routers are the center point of any network, as they are the device that takes the internet from the outside of the business or home and distributes it to the devices on the network. A compromised router means the entire network is compromised, possibly leading to data theft, device hijacking, identity theft, etc. The FBI warned on May 7 that thirteen routers are vulnerable to a cybercriminal proxy service attack, which is targeting thirteen end-of-life routers with TheMoon malware botnet.

How does this work? Unfortunately, the cyberattack doesn't even require a password to be broken for it to be effective.

Here's what the FBI said, "The malware contacts the command and control (C2) server and the C2 server responds with instructions, which may include instructing the infected machine to scan for other vulnerable routers to spread the infection and expand the network."

13 vulnerable routers

• E1200
• E2500
• E1000
• E4200
• E1500
• E300
• E3200
• WRT320N
• E1550
• WRT610N
• E100
• M10
• WRT310N

The FBI advises that any owners of the routers listed above are advised to replace the device with a newer model, with the agency also recommending users to login to their router and disable any remote management/remote administration features.