You know cyber-security threats are serious when the FBI gets involved. Following Cisco’s recent report that 500,000 infected routers could be destroyed via malware, the FBI has taken action to warn small businesses and households to immediately reboot their devices.

ZD Net explains that “the malware, dubbed VPNFilter, was developed by the Russian state-sponsored hacking group Sofacy.” The malware was discovered by Cisco’s Talos Intelligence researchers, and looks to have infected routers made by Linksys, MikroTik, Netgear, and TP-Link.

In fact, if you’re an owner of one of these specific devices, the FBI wants you to immediately reboot it:

• Linksys E1200
• Linksys E2500
• Linksys WRVS4400N
• MikroTik RouterOS for Cloud Core Routers: Versions 1016, 1036, and 1072
• Netgear DGN2200
• Netgear R6400
• Netgear R7000
• Netgear R8000
• Netgear WNR1000
• Netgear WNR2000
• QNAP TS251
• QNAP TS439 Pro
• Other QNAP NAS devices running QTS software
• TP-Link R600VPN

Why is this malware such a potential threat? Well, ZD Net explains that its “most worrying capability is that [the] malware allows its controllers to wipe a portion of an infected device’s firmware, rendering it useless. The attackers can selectively destroy a single device or wipe all infected devices at once.”

Unfortunately, the reboot will not completely save your router if you have been infected with this malware. After rebooting, Stage 2 and Stage 3 of the components of VPNFilter – the most dangerous components – will be removed. However, Stage 1 will linger, meaning there is the potential for hackers to reinfect your router in the future. The FBI is currently working on ways of preventing this.

Source: zdnet.com – FBI to all router users: Reboot now to neuter Russia’s VPNFilter malware
Published: May 29, 2018

“Unplug your Alexa devices right now. You’re being hacked.”

These were the frightening and urgent words a Portland, Oregon family received over the phone two weeks ago, after what the Toronto Star calls an “unlikely string of events” caused their Amazon Echo to record their private conversations and send them to an acquaintance in Seattle, all without consent.

The receiver of these recordings was an employee of the husband, and was also the person to alert them of the situation. This person was listed in the device’s contacts.

“My husband and I would joke and say, ‘I’d bet these devices are listening to what we’re saying,” said family-member, Danielle, to Washington news station, KIRO 7. Danielle and her husband were reasonably in disbelief when they found out about the incident. “At first, my husband was, like, ‘No, you didn’t!’ And the [recipient of the message] said, ‘You sat there talking about hardwood floors.’ And we said, ‘Oh, gosh, you really did hear us.”

Lots of people are nervous about AI and especially anything with recording capability. Danielle and her family are now among that group. She described her feeling of violation to KIRO 7, saying “I’m never plugging that device in again. I can’t trust it.”

So how did this happen?

Amazon said in a statement to The Post last on May 24^th that the Echo  woke up upon hearing a word that sounded like Alexa. “The subsequent conversation was heard as a ‘send message’ request. At which point, Alexa said out loud ‘To whom?’ At which point, the background conversation was interpreted as a name in the customers contact list.”

So there was no hack, but it certainly felt that way to the family. Amazon says it is “evaluating options to make this case even less likely.”

Source: thestar.com – Amazon Echo recorded, sent Oregon family’s conversation without consent
Published: May 24, 2018

You might remember that towards the end of 2017, millions of “fake net neutrality” comments were posted on the FCC’s website, with identical messages, that allegedly showed support of the FCC’s decision to overturn the Obama-era laws. Although the comments were pretty obviously made by bots, they used the identities of real people, including Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Pat Toomey (R-PA). Now, according to Engadget, Merkley and Toomey have penned a letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, asking him to investigate the identity fraud.

In their letter, Merkley and Toomey said they were “among those whose identities were misused to express viewpoints [they] do not hold,” on the FCC’s previous proposals. These two senators would like the commission to identify who or what was behind the fake comment, as well as to “adopt safeguards to prevent the same incident from happening in the future,” says Engadget. They would also like the FCC to disclose the total number of fake comments, and to explain how it is working with the Department of Justice to determine if laws have been broken. They are also asking the FCC to answer how many of the posts were made by bots, and if the commission could implement a CAPTCHA feature in the future. Perhaps most seriously, they want to know if any foreign government was involved in the incident.

Merkley and Toomey should not be alone in their concern. When the FCC originally worked with the New York Attorney General’s Office in investigating the comments, it was revealed that as many as 2 million American identities were used in this fraud.

Merkley and Toomey have described the necessity of their bipartisan team-up; they believe that the comment process of legislation is “an essential part of [American] democracy” and therefore they have a duty to prevent “the deliberate misuse of Americans’ personal information.”

Source: engadget.com – Senators ask the FCC to investigate fake net neutrality comments
Published: May 22, 2018

According to a new study by Rewheel, a specialist in mobile-data and marketing competition, Canadians face “some of the least competitive pricing… for their wireless plans.”

Rewheel’s study looked at how much data 30 Euros – or $46.13 CAD – buys in mobile broadband and smartphone plans in over 41 countries. Canada came last for mobile broadband, and 37^th for smartphone plans, ahead of Greece, Korea, Hungary, and Malta.

This isn’t just a Canadian problem. North America in general is lagging behind Europe in a few ways. The study suggests that “Countries like Bulgaria and Lithuania are outperforming the United States and Canada by offering unlimited data.”

How can this change? In January of 2018, the CRTC was urged to hold a public inquiry into the telecom industry’s sales tactics. But can we ever reach a point where competition in Canada is as diverse as in the EU?

Source: news1130.com – Canadians paying most for data in developed world: report
Published: May 7, 2018