This article originally appeared in Journal of Cyber Policy on September 27, 2019.
Mike Bittner, Associate Director of Digital Security and Operations at The Media Trust says, “With a few exceptions, routers are notorious for lax security defenses and offer bad actors the opportunity to scale up their campaigns. In some cases, it takes less effort to compromise a router than an outdated website. For this reason, routers have been exploited to conduct cryptomining malware, phishing, and other malicious campaigns. Consumers should refrain from making online purchases using public Wi-Fi, if not steer clear of public Wi-Fi’s altogether. Businesses that offer Wi-Fi connection to their customers should vet their routers more carefully to ensure they offer users more protection from bad actors looking for well-intended, publicly available services they can abuse for theft and fraud.”
