Global Russian-Linked Router Malware Even Worse Than Originally Stated

from the Putin-gonna-Putin dept

Late last month, the FBI announced that hackers working for the Russian government had managed to infect roughly 500,000 routers in 54 countries with a particularly-nasty piece of malware known as VPN Filter. The malware, which infected routers from vendors like Linksys, MikroTik, Netgear, TP-Link, and certain network-attached storage devices from companies like QNAP, gave attackers the ability to track a victim's internet usage, launch attacks on other networks, and permanently destroy the devices upon command.

A subsequent Cisco advisory about the malware noted that the infection rate steadily increased since it was first observed sometime in 2016:

"Both the scale and the capability of this operation are concerning. Working with our partners, we estimate the number of infected devices to be at least 500,000 in at least 54 countries...The behavior of this malware on networking equipment is particularly concerning, as components of the VPNFilter malware allows for theft of website credentials and monitoring of Modbus SCADA protocols."

A subsequent report by The Daily Beast noted that the FBI had managed to seize a key domain being used to manage the massive botnet of infected devices. The report also managed to obtain an FBI affidavit highlighting that the hacking group behind the malware was none other than Sofacy, aka Fancy Bear, Sednit, and Pawn Storm -- the same Russian-government linked group believed to be behind the 2016 hack of the Democratic National Committee (unless you're one of those folks still clinging to the flimsy narrative that the DNC hacked itself, a claim recent Guccifer 2.0 revelations utterly deflated).

As is usually the case with these kinds of security issues, new data from Cisco indicates that the malware has since evolved into something even more nasty than the original variant:

"Initially when we saw this we thought it was primarily made for offensive capabilities like routing attacks around the Internet,” Craig Williams, a senior technology leader and global outreach manager at Talos, told Ars. “But it appears [attackers] have completely evolved past that, and now not only does it allow them to do that, but they can manipulate everything going through the compromised device. They can modify your bank account balance so that it looks normal while at the same time they’re siphoning off money and potentially PGP keys and things like that. They can manipulate everything going in and out of the device ."

The new, updated Cisco analysis is well worth a read for those that are interested, and notes that in addition to being more powerful than originally stated, the malware is also targeting a far larger volume of hardware vendors than originally believed, including gear from ASUS, D-Link, Huawei, Ubiquiti, UPVEL, and ZTE. The vulnerabilities being exploited that allow VPN Filter to be installed vary from device to device, as do the steps needed to identify whether a router is infected and how to purge it of the malware.

Originally, the FBI issued a statement indicating that owners of potentially-impacted devices simply needed to reboot their routers to thwart the infection, thanks to the FBI's seizure of the controlling ToKnowAll.com domain.

But it's now clear that rebooting alone only temporarily disrupted the botnet, and doesn't purge the infection. The interesting bit: it's incredibly difficult for ordinary end users to even know if their router is infected, meaning that to be safe, users may need to wipe their routers completely and restore them to factory defaults. After that, the standard caveats usually apply: make sure to update your router to the latest firmware, disable remote administration functionality, and make sure you change any default username and password combinations the device may have shipped with.

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Filed Under: fbi, hacking, malware, routers