A risk to the security of PCs and devices using internet browsing dongles : this is the alert issued by two researchers.
Even internet connection dongles could pose a threat to the cybersecurity of the devices they are used on.
This is, in essence, the conclusion reached by two Russian researchers, Nikita Tarakanov and Oleg Kupreev, whose findings were presented during the “Black Hat Europe” conference held in Amsterdam.
According to their studies, 3G and 4G internet dongles are highly susceptible to malware attacks, thus becoming easily transmissible infection vectors themselves.
This vulnerability stems from the operating system pre-loaded on many dongles, which is too insecure, as are the configuration files.
Specifically, during the conference, two companies producing some of the dongles on which the researchers discovered security flaws were named: the spotlight was cast on Huawei and Zte’s 3G and 4G dongles.
The two companies also supply dongles for mobile operators worldwide, meaning these are highly prevalent devices.
Malicious actors could gain access to the dongles by modifying system files.
At this point, the dongle becomes an infection vehicle that activates each time it is used on a new PC or device.
Be the first to comment