Home Routers and DSL/Cable Modems Attacked by psyb0t Worm
According to a report by PC World, a new computer worm believed to have originated in Australia has been discovered "in the wild". The worm is reported to infect 55 different consumer-oriented routers and cable modems including common brands such as Linksys and Netgear.
The worm is designed to infect systems and then run commands sent by its author across the Internet, creating what is known as a botnet. Once infected, most home users will be unaware that they're infected, and the worm could potentially be used by it's authors to steal personally identifiable information such as account names, passwords, social security numbers, and other personal information.
Recently no longer considered a threat by organizations that track botnets such as DroneBl Blog, psybOt could be an indication of things to come wherein the infrastructure of home networks is attacked at a lower and more discrete level than normally seen.
The best way to combat similar attacks is to ensure that your router or cable modem is configured correctly through a thorough lock-down and the default factory settings have been changed to improve security.
Via PCWorld
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