It has been brought to public attention that there is a chance of a securing risk for BT Home Hub users, meaning the device could potentially be hacked by a third party if default settings are not changed during installation.
Although the chance of hacking is minimal, without making quick security changes users could be at risk of leaving their connections open to “piggybacking”
There are a few simple procedures you can take to ensure your home computer networks are protected against third party access. Broadband Genie suggests the following:
1. It is highly advisable to change the administrative password on your wireless router to a secured password. It is ideal to have a 128-bit WEP encryption for the wireless network and if your equipment does not support this then it could be better to
replace it.
2. Users of the BT Home Hub should make sure that the device is kept switched on at all time to ensure that it is able to access security updates released by BT as soon as they become available.
3. Ensure your computer has anti-virus software and a firewall installed, never open any unsolicited emails and never ignore any “invalid security” messages that pop up.
4. Never disclose any personal information, especially security passwords to any third party – they may be able to use this information against you.
Ciaron Dunne from Broadband Genie gives further advice to all BT Home Hub users: “Although the chances of having your BT Home Hub hacked is slight, it’s very important to always keep your wits about you and do all you can to secure your broadband connections. This applies to all broadband customers using any wireless router.”
He added this note: “Despite the fact that it is the quickest and easiest way to prevent unwanted piggybackers, many broadband users are still not applying a secure password to their connection. In failing to do this you could be openly inviting your neighbours or “wi-fi squatters” to use and abuse your broadband.”
For more information on Wireless Broadband set-up visit www.broadbandgenie.co.uk/
Notes to editors
Broadband Genie allows users to compare broadband online, and is part of Genie Group.
Genie Group Ltd is a leading independent provider of internet comparison shopping services in the UK, and was set up in 2004 by Philip Wilkinson (co-founder of Kelkoo UK). Genie Group's unique selling point is 'the Genie', which makes personal recommendations to internet shoppers based on ground-breaking, intelligent technology. This gives Genie Group the ability to provide an enjoyable and satisfying internet shopping experience, and deliver an unmatched quality of sales leads to our affiliate merchants. Genie Group launched its flagship broadband comparison service Broadband Genie in January 2005.
More information can be found at http://www.broadbandgenie.co.uk . Please direct all media enquiries to Ciaron Dunne. Interviews with Philip Wilkinson can be arranged on request.
