Secure Your Wi-Fi Connection This Weekend

Belkin's released a statement to make Indian internet users more aware of some of the vulnerabilities of their wifi. Many home Internet router and Cable/DSL modems have a significant security vulnerability that can be attacked easily which is dangerous for many reasons.

Bluepill the first worm, originated in Australia can infect wifi routers and modems of home-users. Bluepill also known as Psyb0t is equipped with 6,000 different usernames and 13,000 popular passwords that it tries in various combinations to gain entry to your home network. Home-based wifi routers usually give unlimited attempts to get the username and password correct, making these devices vulnerable to infection. Wi-fi connections to your router and modem run 24 hours a day, so psyb0t has relatively unlimited amount of time to try and gain access.

Most home users will be unaware that they're infected, as Psyb0t is reportedly very hard to detect. So to prevent your Wi-Fi connection to be misused, Belkin believes it is extremely important to take precautionary measures against such kind of attacks. And hence Belkin suggests some measures:

• Change your Default Password: To combat the hack, do not leave your default password blank, the usual precaution applies- choose a difficult password.
• Don't broadcast your SSID: Most WLAN access points and routers automatically (and continually) broadcast the network's name, or SSID (Service Set IDentifier). Turning off SSID broadcast for your network makes it invisible to your neighbors and passers-by.
• Disable remote administration: As a rule, unless you absolutely need this capability, it's best to keep remote administration turned off. (It's usually turned off by default, but it's always a good idea to check.)
  

By changing your router’s DNS Server settings, the hackers can redirect your computer to connect to compromised web sites when you try to access common legitimate site. Many of WIFI routers, default to a blank password. This virus will only work if you have left your router’s password blank, set to a default value, or set to something easy to guess. So, change your password and be secure says Belkin.

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