Millions of DSL modems hacked in Brazil
More than 4.5 million DSL modems have been compromised as part of a sustained hacking campaign in Brazil, with the devices spreading malware and malicious web address redirects.
The attacks focused on a vulnerability in modem firmware that was largely ignored by users and the security community, security vendor Kaspersky said, allowing attackers to enter modem configuration settings and change the DNS server used to browse the internet.
The vulnerable modems, made by six different manufacturers, all use a chip set made by Broadcom. A similar vulnerability was used by Estonian hackers to harness control of modems with its DNSChanger attack.