New ‘Vigilante’ Malware Protects Routers Against Security Threats

[SloppyMcFloppy]

Content source

http://www.techworm.net/2015/10/new-vigilante-malware-protects-routers-against-security-threats.html

A vigilante malware changes 10,000 Wi-Fi passwords to make the home routers more secure
Researchers at the cybersecurity firm Symantec recently discovered a highly virulent piece of malware that actually defends your machine against hackers and even remedies other malware infections.

According to the researchers at Symantec, the custom-built software is nicknamed “Ifwatch” and it is spreading quickly.

“We have not seen any malicious activity whatsoever,” said Symantec threat intelligence officer Val Saengphaibul. “However, in the legal sense, this is illegal activity. It’s accessing computers on a network without the owner’s permission.”

Ifwatch software is a mysterious piece of “malware” that infects routers through Telnet ports, which are often weakly secured with default security credentials that could be open to malicious attack. Instead, Ifwatch takes that opportunity to set up shop, close the door behind it, and then prompts users to change their Telnet passwords, if they are actually going to use the port.

There is a new router-based malware in the wild that isn't really malware, so to speak. Instead of being malicious, it forces you to secure your Wi-Fi networks.

 

[Enju]

Now watch it downloading additional components and start a new botnet. This has been done before in trojans which removed their competitors from a computer so they have "exclusive rights".

Just found out that it took Symantec almost a year to find this malware: CASE 1 : ifwatch malware Part 1