Tag Archives: Belkin

Time to Harden Your Hardware?

February 18, 2014

Most Internet users are familiar with the concept of updating software that resides on their computers. But this past week has seen alerts about an unusual number of vulnerabilities and attacks against some important and ubiquitous hardware devices, from consumer-grade Internet routers, data storage and home automation products to enterprise-class security solutions.

New Tools Bypass Wireless Router Security

December 29, 2011

Security researchers have released new tools that can bypass the encryption used to protect many types of wireless routers. Ironically, the tools take advantage of design flaws in a technology pushed by the wireless industry that was intended to make the security features of modern routers easier to use.

At issue is a technology that ships with most modern consumer wireless routers, called “Wi-Fi Protected Setup” (WPS). According to the Wi-Fi Alliance, an industry group, WPS is “designed to ease the task of setting up and configuring security on wireless local area networks. WPS enables typical users who possess little understanding of traditional Wi-Fi configuration and security settings to automatically configure new wireless networks, add new devices and enable security.”