External hard drives connected to Asus routers at risk

External hard drivers connected to broadband routers from Asus may be accessible over the internet, if the routers' settings are left at default, a tech site reported this week.

 

PC World said this was the finding not only of industry experts but also of tests conducted by PC World Norway and TechWorld Sweden.

 

After being informed about the security risk, Asus is now working on a firmware update to address the problem, the report said.

 

"The ‘limited access rights’ that require passwords will become the new default option. This will apply to both the built-in wizard and when the user chooses to set up FTP manually. Finally, the interface will also indicate whether you used the ‘limitless access’ rights previously," it quoted company spokesman Emanuel Järnland as saying. 

 

PC World noted an increasing number of broadband routers with USB ports that let users connect external hard drives.

 

This means greater convenience for those wanting to make their files remotely accessible via the Internet through protocols like File Transfer Protocol (FTP).

 

But in Asus' case, the access to an external hard drive attached to the router was open by default.

 

PC World said this problem affects users worldwide.

 

”What really scares me is that this went past all forms of security checks that Asus has in place,” it quoted Anders Nilsson, IT security expert at Eurosecure, as saying. — KDM, GMA News