Putin might already have your Wi-Fi password
(Photo by Thomas Peter - Pool/Getty Images)
- Russian hackers are trying to gain access to Western internet routers and data switches.
- Routers and switches control how you access the internet, and how the internet gets to you. They are found in the kind of Wi-Fi network router box you might have in your own home and the kind of huge corporate networks that link employees' computers together.
- Cisco has warned customers to disable older versions of its Smart Install products to prevent Russian hacking.
- Russia could use affected devices to launch widescale denial of service attacks that paralyze the internet.
The Russians are hacking into Western internet routers and data switches in order to read all the internet traffic that flows through them, according to an unusual joint announcement from UK and US cyber-security services.
If they are successful — and the UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) says they have been — they could be able to see everything you do on the web. Anytime you punch in your Wi-Fi, bank, or social media passwords, hackers can record that information, if your web activity goes through any routers or switchers they have breached.See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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