The FBI says, reboot your router. I'm Rich dmiro. This is rich on Tech Daily. Well, this is an odd headline. The FBI is urging folks to reboot their Wi Fi routers to avoid running some malware that can steal your website user names and passwords. This one's kind of a head scratcher, but I put it under the file of
you might as well do it. And it's a good time to kind of check up on your router in general, because lots of us buy these things and then we never think about them again, and really we are avoiding all of the firmware updates that probably need to be done on these things every once in a while. But before we get to that, let's go to the beginning.
What is your router? Well, your router is that device that sits near your computer or TV and it has the connection from the cable company or your phone company into it, and then it serves up your Internet to the rest of your house. The FBI says that this VPN filter pro can steal your login information and send it to the bad guys, or worse, completely disable your router, which means you'd have no more Internet signal. In your
home until you get a replacement device. Normally I would not be as concerned about something like this, but this malware really affects some big name brands of routers, Lots of routers that people have, including Linxis, neck Gear, and also tp link. Those are among some of those popular brands. There are some other brands affected as well, including microtich and q NAP, which are network attached storage devices. But if you have one of those, you probably know what
you're doing when it comes to the tech department. Just looking at some of the pictures of these routers, you will recognize them. They are some of the most popular routers out there. Some of them are pretty inexpensive, which means a lot of people purchase them. I've personally owned several of these routers over the years. They go from the low end to the high end. Now, if you want the full list of affected model numbers, you can find that on my website rich on tech dot tv.
But they have model names like Lynxis E twelve hundred, Netgear R six four hundred, Neckgear WNR one thousand. Again, these are all pretty popular routers, tp Link R six hundred VPN. So what do you do. If you have one of these routers, well, the first thing you want to do is follow the cord from the back of the device all the way to the power outlet and unplug it. Then wait about thirty seconds for it to fully power down. Then you can plug it back in.
The Justice Department says this simple step can help you avoid a portion of the threat, and I'd recommend doing this no matter which router you have, even if it's not specifically listed above. This is a pretty easy thing to do and will only interrupt your Wi Fi connection at home for about five to ten minutes while everything boots up again. Now, after this, there are two more, much more involved steps to take if your router model
is specifically mentioned on the list. This includes a factory reset, a firmware update, and also changing the default password on the device. Now, the factory reset is probably the minimum thing you want to do if you suspect that your router is a part of this problem. This involves basically bringing the router back to the way it was from the factory. And this involves a little tiny reset hole or button you'd probably never noticed on the back of
the router until now. You basically put a paper clip in there and push down the button for several seconds until the router starts to blink a bunch, and that will signal that you have successfully factory reset it, and then it will take a while to boot back up. Now, if you do this, keep in mind this literally puts your router back to new So imagine taking it out of the box. You will have to set up your
entire router again from scratch. You're gonna have to create a new Wi Fi network and password, and then of course reconnect all your devices. Now you can use the same network name and password that you had previously set up, and then your devices will find the new router all by themselves. But this is a less secure option, so proceed at your own risk with that one. Now, after you do the factory reset, this is the most important thing. You want to set a new login password for your router.
A lot of time these routers have the same exact login and password. It's usually admin and password. That is not secure because if you're a hacker, you can literally get into all these people's devices across the nation just by using the default username and password. Not smart. Now, some of the newer routers have more unique passwords that are set from the factory, and those are printed on the bottom of them, but still it's not as good
as something that you set on the device yourself. The other thing you should do, and you should probably do this once in a while anyway, is make sure the firmware on your router is up to date. This is really kind of the operating system on the router. Think of this as updating the software on your iPhone or
your Android device. This is kind of involved because you have to log into your router from your computer using a special web address, which is usually something like one nine to two dot one six ' one dot one dot one or my router admin dot net or something weird like that, which most people just don't bother with. But the good news is most of the newer routers have a button once you you get to that web in or face where you can just say check for
new firmware and then you can install it. So that's the good news here, But that is a little more complicated. You probably want to enlist the help of someone that knows what they're doing. Keep in mind if you have one of these newer mess style router systems like those from euro Google Wi Fi or Neckgear orby This is why I love these things. These things are so easy
to update. You can update the firmware right from your phone's app, and it's much easier than going in and having to do any of this stuff from some sort of control panel using your web browser. And if you get one of these newer mess style router systems, you're gonna get way better Wi Fi coverage throughout your house and much better security overall. Hopefully this helped out when it comes to the FBI telling you to reboot your router. You can find my full write up on the website.
Just go to richon tech dot tv if you want to see a list of all the routers that are affected and the step by step instructions on how to fix things. Thanks so much for listening. If you could, if you like what I'm doing here, leave a review on Apple podcasts that would be the best. I'm Rich Tomiro. I will talk to you real soon. M