{"id":51285,"date":"2015-07-14T17:54:02","date_gmt":"2015-07-14T17:54:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/?p=51285"},"modified":"2015-07-14T17:54:02","modified_gmt":"2015-07-14T17:54:02","slug":"lock-down-your-wifi-router","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/lock-down-your-wifi-router\/","title":{"rendered":"Lock Down Your WiFi Router"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/br><\/p>\n<p><i><font SIZE=\"2\">How to lock down a frequently overlooked security risk.&#8211;PC Pitstop<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n<h4>Lock Down Your WiFi Router<\/h4>\n<p>by Bob Rankin<\/p>\n<p>While we\u2019ve been focusing on the security of our desktop PCs, laptops, and mobile devices, malware-manufacturing miscreants have been exploiting the most overlooked computer in most homes and businesses: the router. Here&#8217;s what you need to know\u2026<\/p>\n<p><strong>Is Your Router Secure?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For those who have high-speed Internet, the router is the little box that connects your home or office to the Internet. And they are the latest target of the online criminal classes.<br \/>\nA legion of hacked consumer-grade routers were used to launch distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks that brought Sony and Microsoft gaming networks to a halt over the last holiday season.<br \/>\nAnd now, according to researchers at the Fujitsu Security Operations Center, hundreds of hacked routers are being used to distribute malware that steals login credentials by redirecting browsers to rogue websites that imitate financial institutions. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Lock Down Your Router<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A router can be compromised by changing its settings. For instance, substituting a hacker\u2019s rogue DNS server address for that of a legitimate DNS server would redirect browser requests to a fake website. But a router can also be remotely reprogrammed with firmware that includes malware and instructions for distributing it, turning the router into a slave in a botnet.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s unsettling that the researchers are not sure how bad guys are gaining control of routers. They speculate that users are to blame for not changing the factory default administrator login credentials when they set up their routers. Most often, the default credentials are published online; always, they\u2019re simple and easily guessed. But I can\u2019t lay all the blame on users.<\/p>\n<p><b><a href=\"http:\/\/askbobrankin.com\/security_tip_lock_down_your_wifi_router.html?pcp\" target=\"_blank\">Article Continued Here<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How to lock down a frequently overlooked security risk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":45973,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[4579],"class_list":["post-51285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bob-rankin","tag-router-security"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Lock Down Your WiFi Router<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Lock Down Your WiFi Router - How to lock down a frequently overlooked security risk.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/lock-down-your-wifi-router\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lock Down Your WiFi Router\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Lock Down Your WiFi Router - How to lock down a frequently overlooked security risk.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/lock-down-your-wifi-router\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"PC Matic Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pcmatic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-07-14T17:54:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/router150.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"150\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"150\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bob Rankin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@pcmatic\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@pcmatic\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bob Rankin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/lock-down-your-wifi-router\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/lock-down-your-wifi-router\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Bob Rankin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/14737bf7fced6827446b09e297ea0744\"},\"headline\":\"Lock Down Your WiFi Router\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-07-14T17:54:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/lock-down-your-wifi-router\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":295,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/lock-down-your-wifi-router\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/router150.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"router security\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Bob Rankin\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/lock-down-your-wifi-router\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/lock-down-your-wifi-router\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/lock-down-your-wifi-router\\\/\",\"name\":\"Lock Down Your WiFi Router\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/lock-down-your-wifi-router\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/lock-down-your-wifi-router\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/router150.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-07-14T17:54:02+00:00\",\"description\":\"Lock Down Your WiFi Router - How to lock down a frequently overlooked security risk.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/lock-down-your-wifi-router\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/lock-down-your-wifi-router\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/lock-down-your-wifi-router\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/router150.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/router150.jpg\",\"width\":150,\"height\":150},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/lock-down-your-wifi-router\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Lock Down Your WiFi Router\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"PC Matic Blog\",\"description\":\"Tech Tips and Tricks\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"PC Matic - Top Antivirus Company in the USA.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/techtalk.pcmatic.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/PC-MaticLogo-e1472689639222.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/techtalk.pcmatic.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/PC-MaticLogo-e1472689639222.png\",\"width\":1535,\"height\":483,\"caption\":\"PC Matic - Top Antivirus Company in the USA.\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/pcmatic\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/pcmatic\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/pcmaticusa\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/pcmatic\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/c\\\/PCMaticVideo\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/14737bf7fced6827446b09e297ea0744\",\"name\":\"Bob Rankin\",\"description\":\"Bob Rankin is a translator for the technology impaired -- a writer and computer programmer who enjoys exploring the Internet and explaining technology in plain English. His work has appeared in Computer World, NY Newsday, and other publications. Bob is also publisher of Internet TOURBUS, author of several computer books, and creator of the Lowfat Linux tutorial.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/askbobrankin.com\\\/tbsignup.html?pcp\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/bobrankin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Lock Down Your WiFi Router","description":"Lock Down Your WiFi Router - How to lock down a frequently overlooked security risk.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/lock-down-your-wifi-router\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Lock Down Your WiFi Router","og_description":"Lock Down Your WiFi Router - How to lock down a frequently overlooked security risk.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/lock-down-your-wifi-router\/","og_site_name":"PC Matic Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pcmatic","article_published_time":"2015-07-14T17:54:02+00:00","og_image":[{"width":150,"height":150,"url":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/router150.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Bob Rankin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@pcmatic","twitter_site":"@pcmatic","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Bob Rankin","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/lock-down-your-wifi-router\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/lock-down-your-wifi-router\/"},"author":{"name":"Bob Rankin","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/14737bf7fced6827446b09e297ea0744"},"headline":"Lock Down Your WiFi Router","datePublished":"2015-07-14T17:54:02+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/lock-down-your-wifi-router\/"},"wordCount":295,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/lock-down-your-wifi-router\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/router150.jpg","keywords":["router security"],"articleSection":["Bob Rankin"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/lock-down-your-wifi-router\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/lock-down-your-wifi-router\/","url":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/lock-down-your-wifi-router\/","name":"Lock Down Your WiFi Router","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/lock-down-your-wifi-router\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/lock-down-your-wifi-router\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/router150.jpg","datePublished":"2015-07-14T17:54:02+00:00","description":"Lock Down Your WiFi Router - How to lock down a frequently overlooked security risk.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/lock-down-your-wifi-router\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/lock-down-your-wifi-router\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/lock-down-your-wifi-router\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/router150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/router150.jpg","width":150,"height":150},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/lock-down-your-wifi-router\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Lock Down Your WiFi Router"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/","name":"PC Matic Blog","description":"Tech Tips and Tricks","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"PC Matic - Top Antivirus Company in the USA.","url":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/techtalk.pcmatic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/PC-MaticLogo-e1472689639222.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/techtalk.pcmatic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/PC-MaticLogo-e1472689639222.png","width":1535,"height":483,"caption":"PC Matic - Top Antivirus Company in the USA."},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pcmatic","https:\/\/x.com\/pcmatic","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/pcmaticusa\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/pcmatic","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/PCMaticVideo"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/14737bf7fced6827446b09e297ea0744","name":"Bob Rankin","description":"Bob Rankin is a translator for the technology impaired -- a writer and computer programmer who enjoys exploring the Internet and explaining technology in plain English. His work has appeared in Computer World, NY Newsday, and other publications. Bob is also publisher of Internet TOURBUS, author of several computer books, and creator of the Lowfat Linux tutorial.","sameAs":["http:\/\/askbobrankin.com\/tbsignup.html?pcp"],"url":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/author\/bobrankin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51285\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}