Linux worm wriggles its way into routers, cameras and other devices

It's an old threat and complete FUD. The story is being broadcast by Symantec,... trying to spread FUD against Linux powered routers...

An easy lesson; Any consumer router needs to be ... (a) easily updated, (b) easily given a new access password, & (c) allowed to turn off any internet facing configuration screens,...

There should be ranking of threats in any threat "stories." That way, ... no panic with newbies...

One thing I do know, JaseP, is that on the few occasions when I purchase a new modem/router, it gets a new randomised password that I put there....My Billion VoiP modem has a 12 character password and I have to look it up myself. I did a little bit of research some time back and was told bluntly that I would be amazed and horrified to find out how many people are using the factory default password in their internet equipment, largely because no-one has ever told them the dangers that are involved if they leave the defaults in place.

I also look at it this way: If it wasn't that Windows is still being used by so many people, Symantec would have almost no reason to exist and certainly a very reduced cash-flow. I'm not surprised that they feel threatened by the constant march of Linux into areas previously controlled by Win-based software. It's a sad comment about Redmond software quality, but I personally do think it's true.

The article was basically mistitled.

A password worm has nothing to do with the operating system. Take any OS and set the password to "guest" and you will be vulnerable.

There is nothing that an OS developer can do to guard against careless users.

Earlier this year broke down and bought a new, dual-band wireless router (my favourite local outlet was having a sale/promo on routers that month).

First thing I did was check which models could even be re-flashed with DD-WRT or OpenWRT or Tomato. I wasn't convinced that I'd bother, but the option to do so was a prime consideration.

Then I checked which ones could take such an upgrade well -- wasn't too tricky to re-flash, would retain all functionality (at least one I looked at would, thanks to proprietary drivers, leave you with a just single-band router, after upgrading to dd-wrt) and had a reasonable amount of flash memory for an OS that was fully-featured, readily upgradable/up-datable, future-proofed and maintainable.

In the end I was left with three roughly similar models, from three brands, for roughly the same price (within $20).

Two of them had two built-in USB ports, but were a little cramped for system resources, the other had only one USB port, but had plenty of system resources (at least double the flash, and excellent range/power), and best of all, it came with DD-WRT as its default, vendor-supplied operating system.

Guess which one I bought -- and it wasn't even the cheapest ;-) .

Interestingly enough, the customer reviews seemed to confirm my prejudice, that the one that came with Linux was the better product (and the reviews included several from people who had installed dd-wrt on the others, as well).

I had installed Gargoyle on an old Linksys router, but unfortunately, later bricked it. Gargoyle's a front end for OpenWRT.