Cybersecurity

Homeland Security Issues Alert on These Popular Routers

You might not always believe what the government tells you, but if you own a D-Link Wi-Fi router, you should probably take Uncle Sam's advice. The Department of Homeland Security yesterday (Nov. 7) warned about a vulnerability affecting at least eight D-Link home Wi-Fi routers, and the only fix right now involves a fairly technical workaround. Otherwise, you may be better off living without Wi-Fi until D-Link provides a patch.

The D-Link DIR-895L, aka the AC5300 Ultra Wi-Fi Router. Credit: D-Link

The DHS vulnerability warning, issued by the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, briefly describes the flaw and the routers affected. Security researcher Pedro Ribeiro from Agile Information Security in London discovered the flaw, which could let an attacker remotely seize control of a router without providing a username or password.

Because he (or she) who controls the router controls the network, this flaw could compromise anything on any Wi-Fi connected device, from Facebook passwords to financial information to webcam access.