One of the biggest threats to you being hacked comes from your router, and according to a Which? Report, millions of people are at risk due to older routers that have not been updated.
Your home wireless router is the hub of all your online activity, with all the data passing through it, so any security flaws here can expose your entire network to cyber-criminals. This could be down to a weak password or a security flaw in the firmware.
While most of us are guilty of not upgrading our Wi-Fi password regularly, this is easily solved on most systems by logging in to the router via a browser. However, security patches can be more complicated. New routers – especially those provided by your internet provider – should receive automatic security updates when a new version becomes available.
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Which? discovered that not all routers were being automatically updated and people that have had their routers for a longer period of time are often more at risk. It estimates that, in the UK, around six million people have a device that has not been updated since 2018. In the US, the number is likely to be much higher.
The report, also published by the BBC, discovered that devices that hadn’t been updated included the Sky Hub SR101 and SR102, Virgin Media Super Hub and Super Hub 2, and the TalkTalk HG635, HG523a and HG533. EE’s Brightbox 2 also featured a network vulnerability that left it open to hackers.
Even if you don’t use one of these devices, it’s worth checking that your router is running the latest version of the software (through browser access). If you are using a router that’s more than three years old, it might be worth upgrading to a new model with stronger security features.
