FBI warns cyber attackers could use your router to cover their tracks

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - FBI officials said bad actors in other countries are trying to hack into U.S. government systems and could be using your home internet router to cover their tracks.

Officials said they are always on the attack and anyone with an internet router in their home could be a target.

“Most people don’t realize that their home router can be a national security issue,” said FBI Supervisory Special Agent Joe Zadik.

Zadik said bad actors from countries like China, Iran, North Korea and Russia could be using your personal home router to cause trouble, and they could reroute you to a dummy site and steal your financial information or hack into government sites or defense contractor sites using your IP address to cover their tracks.

“So it can appear to be your IP address as in your residential address instead of the bad guy because it’s going through your device,” said Zadik.

So how do you know if you’ve been compromised? Zadik said there could be signs.

“If a user is visiting websites and they consistently see a captcha pop-up, that should be a red-flag for them that something could be wrong,” said Zadik.

Another red flag is if your internet is slow.

And keep in mind, if you access apps and secure websites through your home’s Wi-Fi those can also be at risk.

“One thing you can do is go into your settings on each of these accounts: your email, your bank account, your social media, and check to see if there’s been suspicious log-in attempts or if there’s been devices currently logged in,” said Zadik.

If there are any you don’t recognize, log out and change your password.

Even if you haven’t seen these signs, FBI officials said there are two main ways to protect yourself:

• Change your router’s password (You’re especially vulnerable if you’re still using the password that came with it)
• Enable auto updates

The bottom line is by staying on top of your technology, hopefully you can stay one step ahead of bad actors.

“All ways that can make it difficult for the adversary to get into your system if they’re targeting you,” said Zadik.

FBI officials said if your router is unable to update or install auto updates, it’s likely at the end of its life and time to get a new one. You would need to make sure you change that password right away. If you feel like your router has been compromised, click here to file a complaint with the FBI.