SMART broadband Router problem

Mr. Brough

Hello all,

I just got connected to SMART Broadband and while the service is good
(upload 1.96mbits/Download 128kMbits) I was shocked to find that within 4 days of signing up, my ADSL2+ router had been hacked.

Some *&^ker opened a ****-load of ports on my router. This was easy to do as the "admin" password on the router sent out by SMART is unprotected and (AFAIK) is THE SAME ON EVERY ROUTER SENT OUT BY SMART.

The installation documentation mentions what the admin login and password are but make sno mention of changing the pasword from the "default".

Anyone who has recently signed on to SMART, I advice you to check your router.

B Brough

slipstream

id be VERY surprised if your dsl modem/router permitted admin access over your wan link by default.

slip

maquiladora

Eh? Most brands of routers you can buy have "admin" and "password" as the default logins, including all Netgear routers. You can change these in the router config.

GarfieldConnoll

slipstream wrote:

id be VERY surprised if your dsl modem/router permitted admin access over your wan link by default.

slip

Slip,

Agreed, it doesn't allow remote access by default.

You'd have to load the config page, go to the Device tab, then the Remote tab and then enable Remote access. Even then, there's a default time out.

The admin password can be changed under the Device tab.

Garfield.

machalla

The firewall isn't enabled by default from what I remember though. Once it is its pretty restrictive and you will need to manually open up the ports you need yourself.

At least that was my experience.

Mind you the first thing you do on any new router is change the admin password. Considering these are all fresh out of the box you would as a rule expect it to be set to the default password.

I'm not sure how likely it is but perhaps your machine was hacked and then whoever did it took over your router through your machine.

Adey2002

Any router you get will be set to the default username and password, whether supplied by your isp, or purchsed from a shop.

It's your own responsibility to make sure it is secured once connected. The first thing you should have done was change the password. This should be common sense if you know that the default login details are freely available for any one to see.

Mr. Brough

Yes, I do agree that it is common sense to immediately change all passwords that are "ADMIN/****". Being the near-luddite that I am, I would have preferred to see instuctions to that effect in the installation guide, preferably written in 24point bold print. It is my responsibility to change the password and I accept that.

Please understand that I wrote the original posting after having had a consultant show me a very large range of ports (something to do with ipWAN?) that were open to the public when he logged on to the router.

The response that I got from SMART was pretty good ("same day") and I am currently enjoying 1.96mbits download/128kbits upload. In otherwords, after an initial heart attack, I am a happy customer.

the corpo

Installed my Smart Wireless modem today and all seems grand. Have noticed the AC adaptor making a fairly loud humming noise, guessing this isn't a good thing. Anyone else noticed this? Or are your units quiet?

Adey2002

the corpo wrote:

Installed my Smart Wireless modem today and all seems grand. Have noticed the AC adaptor making a fairly loud humming noise, guessing this isn't a good thing. Anyone else noticed this? Or are your units quiet?

Maybe it's just in a good mood because it's finally out of it's box and being used .....

Seriously though, electronic equipment shouldn't really humm loud enough for you to hear it , unless it belongs in the missus' bedside table. I would request a replacement.

the corpo

just experimented plugging the adaptor into a couple of different plug sockets and its fine, but when i put it back into the hallway beside the phone point, it gets all noisy again

soooo, wiring in my apt must be dodgy 8(