• Threat to assault networks through routers cited by officials
  • Advice: Make sure router software is current, passwords find

Russia is using compromised computer-network equipment to assault U.S. and British companies and government agencies, both countries advised in an unprecedented joint alert.

The warning on Monday came from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Federal Bureau of Investigation and Britain's National Cyber Security Center. It included advice to companies about how to protect themselves and alerted specifically of assaults on routers, the devices that channel data around a network.

” Russian state-sponsored musicians are using compromised routers to conduct spoofing' man-in-the-middle' assaults to support espionage, extract intellectual property, maintain persistent access to victim networks and potentially lay a foundation for future offensive operations, ” according to a joint statement.” Multiple sources including private and public-sector cybersecurity research organizations and allies have reported this activity to the U.S. and U.K. governments. ”

The main advice offered Monday for individuals and companies: Make sure that your router software is up-to-date and its password is secure.

” Once you own the router, you own the traffic, ” Jeanette Manfra, deputy secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, told reporters on a joint conference call.

Low Point

U.S. and U.K. relations with Vladimir Putin's administration are at a low stage, following the alleged use of nerve agent to poison a former double agent in Britain in March and the U.S.-led bombing of Syria over the weekend after the Russian ally's alleged use of chemical weapons on civilians. Britain's GCHQ intelligence agency had already warned that Russia was using its cyber capabilities to target democracies.

The Pentagon has said Russian ” trolling ” activity increased 2,000 percentage after the Syria strike. Still, all the agencies in Monday's advisory said their new warn wasn't related to such recent events. Nor have they found that the attacks on network equipment were being used to target U.S. election systems ahead of congressional elections in November.

” Russia is our most capable hostile antagonist in cyberspace, ” Ciaran Martin, chief executive officer of Britain's NCSC, told reporters on a joint conference call.” Many of the techniques used by Russia exploit basic imperfections in network systems. The Russian cyberattack capability is a global problem. ”

While the officials were reluctant to give precise details of the threat, they said once a router had been hacked, it could be used not simply to capture data traveling through it, but also to carry out assaults on other computers, potentially overwhelming the Internet's communications infrastructure.

” It's a tremendous weapon in the hands of an opponent, ” Howard Marshall, a deputy assistant director of the FBI, said.

Such assaults, where computers are bombarded with petitions from other computers that have ever hacked until they crash, are a well-known weapon in cyberwarfare. It is possible that Britain, at least, has even utilized them: Last week it revealed that it had be carried forward cyberattacks to interrupt Islamic State's communications and propaganda effort.

Read more: www.bloomberg.com