COVID-19 Home Router Attacks:While the world scrambles to manage the health & economic chaos of the COVID-19 virus, cybercriminals are looking to profit off of the pandemic via your back door. Tech experts have identified a new attack that uses DNS hijacking to redirect users to a web page which offers a Covid-19 informational app download. Unfortunately, users who fall for this scheme end up downloading malware into their router, which proceeds to snag information like cryptocurrency wallet credentials and other private data. Experts surmise hackers "probe the internet" for vulnerable routers and use brute-forcing techniques to guess control panel passwords (which isn't terribly difficult, as many users leave these credentials as "admin" and "password"). Once an attacker has access to your router control panel, changing your DNS settings is a minor process. After hackers change the DNS IP addresses, they can resolve any request and redirect users to web pages that they control, without anyone being the wiser. Some of the domains being targeted for malicious redirects include goo.gl, bit.ly, washington.edu, cox.net, and aws.amazon.com. Roughly 1,200 people have been impacted by this attack across the United States, Germany, and France. If you're worried about a similar attack happening to you, it’s recommended you change your router control panel login credentials, update your router firmware & of course, download a robust antivirus software if you don't already have one.
