HERE IS HOW THE CIA COULD HACK YOUR ROUTER!!

We all have our Wi-Fi router in the corner of our homes accumulating dust and it provides an attractive target for hackers, including according to a new WikiLeaks release, the CIA.

WikiLeaks recently published a detailed set of descriptions and documentation for the CIA's router hacking toolkit; it hints at how the agency leverages vulnerabilities in common routers sold by companies including D-Link and Linksys. The techniques range from hacking network passwords to rewriting devices firmware to remotely monitor the traffic that flows across a target's network. 

Routers make an appealing entry point for hackers, the CIA included, in part because most of them offer no easily accessible interface or performance giveaways hence they are compromised. There is no sign to tell you that your router is hacked or not, you are just browsing the internet as normal, the only thing is that everything you are doing is going through the CIA. 

According to the leaked documentation, the CIA's router-hacking kill chain seems to start with a tool called Claymore, which can scan a network to identify devices and then launch the CIA's router-hacking exploits. The leaked files cite two specific exploits, named Tomato and Surfside. Tomato appears to target vulnerabilities in at least two routers sold by D-Link and Linksys and is designed to steal those devices' administrative passwords. The files also note that at least two other routers sold by Linksys could be targeted with Tomato after a few more "many weeks" of development.

Given the general insecurity of the average home router, it shouldn't come as a surprise that one of the world's most well-resourced spy agencies has exploited them for surveillance. If users stay vigilant in keeping their router updated, there's no direct evidence in the CIA leak that their router would be vulnerable to the agency's spying. But given that most users don't frequently update their routers, and consumer antivirus software doesn't track router malware either, WikiLeaks' release demonstrates just how much of a hacking bonanza the world's Wi-Fi access points may offer to capable hackers.