Better Business Bureau Warns of Rise in Router Takeovers

In early September 2020 the US Better Business Bureau issued a warning to everyone working from home that router takeover attacks by bad actors are on the rise. This sort of attack is particularly relevant now that so many people are working from home and not all schools and colleges are back in regular tuition mode.

With attacks on home users rising during the Covid-19 pandemic, routers are also a likely target for attack. The Better Business Bureau warns of recent attacks that affect your router and can lead to a lot of trouble that is not immediately obvious. Jo-Ann Deal, a Bureau representative, stated that a router will not only give bad actors access to everything on your computer and network but also make it very difficult to gain back control.

Ms. Deal advised users to keep their webcam covered at all times when it's not being actively used in a call. The Bureau explains that this measure is recommended because there is malware that can capture images of your person and surroundings and then those images can be spliced into fake but compromising collages. The Better Business Bureau also underlined the importance of getting children to understand how crucial password security is and teaching them to never share any passwords they know or use with anyone else.

What Can You Do to Protect Your Router?

There are a few very basic steps everyone can take to make their home router than much more secure. The first thing you need to do is find the numerical address of your router that you use to access router settings. In most cases, the address would be 192.168.1.1, but if that does not work out for your particular brand and model, you can always find your router's manual, which will have the exact numeric address.

Once you enter this address in your browser's address bar, you can access your router's complete settings and configuration menu. In there, you need to go through the router's security settings and make sure you assign it a name you recognize but that is also not easily linked to your family or household, then set a password and choose encryption type. The standard encryption most router configurations would use is WPA2. When setting up your router's password, make sure you pick a password that is a mix of letters, symbols and numbers, which is long and complex enough, to maximize security.

Once you have gone through the process of setting up your router's password and encryption type, you are essentially done with setting up the first and most important wall of defense against intrusion and are safe from most low-profile attacks that would target home users.