Netgear has long owned the home Wifi Router market, and it’s likely many of our readers have a Netgear device in their home and we are aware of a few of our client firms with older (legacy) Netgear devices in their office serving Wifi. In mid-June 2020, several authors published articles listing 79 Netgear routers where a serious vulnerability was found to exist. The vulnerability could allow a remote person to take full control of your Wifi Router. Be aware the following 2 articles list ALL affected Netgear routers, some of which have patches that have since been made available:
We held off on notifying our clients since Netgear planned to release firmware patches for some (but not all) of the legacy models. Now they have released the list of older models that will not be patched and will remain vulnerable:
Here’s what should you do now:
- Inspect any network devices near your internet modem. Some modems are combination devices that also serve Wifi and typically are NOT Netgear devices.
- If you find ANY Netgear devices at home or work, look for the Model #, P/N, Part Number, on the sticker (side, underneath) or printed on the front.
- Compare the model # with the list in Tom’s Guide article above, looking for your Netgear model.
- If your model is on the list that will NOT be patched, it is important to replace it.
- LeeShanok’s team can help verify your model is vulnerable, and provide recommendations or a quote to replace it.
Now for the owners of “patched” models (not on Tom’s Guide list), the patches don’t self-install. You or our team need to log in to the device’s Management Console to download and install the available patch. Please contact our team for assistance.
Our “Best Practice” is to replace any legacy Netgear router, regardless if it’s been patched or not. For a confidential discussion of your IT security situation, feel free to contact us.
LeeShanok Network Solutions
3877 N 7th Street | Suite 320 | Phoenix | Arizona | 85014
BRatia@leeshanok.com
