A recently discovered serious flaw in the firmware of several Netgear router models can potentially allow hackers to break into an affected router and cause all kinds of mischief.
As far as security researchers can tell, a potential hacker must have your help to gain entry to your router, but all that’s required is for you to click a bad link in an email.
(This is yet another reason to think twice before clicking ANY link in an email!)
Although the list of routers that are affected by this flaw could grow, here are the models known to be affected at this time:
- R6200
- R6250
- R6400
- R6700
- R6900
- R7000
- R7100LG
- R7300
- R7900
- R8000
- D6220
- D6400
Do you see your Netgear router’s model number on the list above? If so, I recommend that you download and install the latest firmware update for it as soon as possible. Simply follow the steps below:
1 – Visit this page on the Netgear website:
https://www.netgear.com/support/
2 – Type your router’s model number into the search box, the select your router from the drop-down list.
3 – Click the Downloads button.
4 – Find the “Firmware and Software Downloads” section and click Firmware Version XXXXX. Note: The Xs represent a series of numbers that depict the current version of the firmware download.
5 – Click the Download button.
6 – Double-click on the downloaded zipped folder, the double-click the file that begins with Release_note_….
7 – Follow the instructions that should now be displayed in your web browser.
That’s all there is to it. After you have installed the latest firmware your router should no longer be affected by the flaw.
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