Home Routers are a Huge Risk

So a little while ago, I wrote about the risks that remote workers face while working from home.

A recent study of home routers does well to illustrate these vulnerabilities.

In a study entitled Home Router Security Report 2020 conducted by FKIE, it was found that 43/127 commercial routers hadn’t received security updates in the last year from the original equipment manufacturer (OEM), despite the fact that these devices are affected by hundreds of known vulnerabilities. In the worst cases, the devices hadn’t bee updated by the OEM in more than five years.

Over ninety percent of the evaluated routers run versions of the Linux operating system. Yet, the updates provided to the routers fall far behind the standards we’d expect for desktop or server machines running the same operating systems. These vendors could distribute security patches and updates several times a year, but often they do not.

FKIE’s study only complements a 2018 study conducted by American Consumer Institute demonstrating that 83-percent of sampled routers were found to have an average of 186 vulnerabilities to potential attacks in the router’s firmware.

Such evidence suggests:

1. Home router manufacturers aren’t preparing firmware updates in a timely fashion;

2. Users are not applying available updates in a timely fashion, or, may not understand how.

This is a severe problem, especially in the age of COVID as many millions of workers are conducting important commercial business on the backs of outdated router firmware with known bugs.

But you can do better. Hiring a computer consultant to investigate your router, update its firmware, or replace the router, can secure your small business. It’s a practical step in deterring potential aggressors and in safeguarding your information assets. Just ask us how it’s done.

R

Linksys EA4500 Fails with Error 502 Bad Gateway at Console

So I was managing a Linksys EA4500 Router that was reporting "bad gateway" error 502 when attempting to access its console via a browser.

Multiple resets didn't resolve the problem. A firmware upgrade, however, did.

1. Check the back of the router for it's Hardware Version. It's next to the serial number and model number. If there is no version information, you're on Hardware Version 1.

2. Download the latest firmware image for the router. Do note the hardware version.

3. Unplug the WAN (Internet) port on the router.

4. Connect to the router with a physical cable on one of its standard Ethernet ports (not the WAN/Internet port).

5. Open a browser and browse to: http://myrouter.local

6. If that doesn't work, browse to the router's IP address.

7. The "bad gateway" should now be resolved. You're at Console Login. Login to the router. 

8. Go to the Connectivity section and manually update the firmware with the file you downloaded.

9. After firmware application and reboot, you should be able to plug the WAN port back in and browse to console normally.

That should solve the issue.

R

Smart Phone Apps

Content presentation for the upcoming TekTalk discussion ...