An open source router built for security
Secure Networker
Home routers are known for weak security. Turris Omnia is an attempt to build a better router through the power of open source.
Hundreds of Internet routers inhabit the IT consumer marketplace. However, the little boxes that connect our home or work offices to the Internet are continually causing a stir. At the end of November 2016, 900,000 customers of a German telecom company were cut off from the Internet for hours – and even for days – because the Speedport router supplied by the company fell victim to a denial of service attack.
Strangely enough, the attack was not even intended for the routers. Instead, the attackers wanted to penetrate the vulnerable remote maintenance interface of a completely different device type. In order to exploit an existing vulnerability of the targeted routers, and thus integrate them into a botnet, the attackers indiscriminately flooded the Internet with port-knocking packets to open a communication channel to the affected systems.
An investigation revealed that the company had left port 7547/TCP wide open on the devices; customers had warned the company as early as 2014 of this potential and completely unnecessary vulnerability, but for whatever reason, many devices were still vulnerable.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
There's a New Linux AI Assistant in Town
Newelle is a Linux AI assistant that can work with different LLMs and includes document parsing and profiles.
-
Linux Kernel 6.16 Released with Minor Fixes
The latest Linux kernel doesn't really include any big-ticket features, just a lot of lines of code.
-
EU Sovereign Tech Fund Gains Traction
OpenForum Europe recently released a report regarding a sovereign tech fund with backing from several significant entities.
-
FreeBSD Promises a Full Desktop Installer
FreeBSD has lacked an option to include a full desktop environment during installation.
-
Linux Hits an Important Milestone
If you pay attention to the news in the Linux-sphere, you've probably heard that the open source operating system recently crashed through a ceiling no one thought possible.
-
Plasma Bigscreen Returns
A developer discovered that the Plasma Bigscreen feature had been sitting untouched, so he decided to do something about it.
-
CachyOS Now Lets Users Choose Their Shell
Imagine getting the opportunity to select which shell you want during the installation of your favorite Linux distribution. That's now a thing.
-
Wayland 1.24 Released with Fixes and New Features
Wayland continues to move forward, while X11 slowly vanishes into the shadows, and the latest release includes plenty of improvements.
-
Bugs Found in sudo
Two critical flaws allow users to gain access to root privileges.
-
Fedora Continues 32-Bit Support
In a move that should come as a relief to some portions of the Linux community, Fedora will continue supporting 32-bit architecture.