Tuesday, May 26th, NPO1 broadcasted a report about a huge privacy leak over the internet in the show Opgelicht?!. This vulnerability is caused by plug & play settings in routers and network storage. Your 1A-server is located between the router and your network, so your corporate network is safe from this privacy leak. But are you safe at home as well?
Unfortunately this is not always the case at your home and your colleagues’. Thousands of Dutch residents unintentionally publish their most sensitive information openly on the internet. This includes passwords, DigiD data, digital copies of passports, documents, photos and financial data.
Manufacturers want to make their products as easy as possible for consumers and that’s a good thing. ICT is often very complex. Unfortunately there is a downside to ease of use: one makes concessions on safety. To ensure that you can immediately use all the features of such devices clever techniques such as uPnP (Universal Plug and Play) are enabled by default. When enabled on your router and your network storage (such as a NAS), your data is being made available on the outside of your router, which is the Internet, without your explicit knowledge. Therefore, make sure that if your router supports uPnP, this service is not enabled.
Test if you are vulnerable at your current location » If you can see your files without having to log in, then others can see these files as well!
On the NPO website “Uitzending gemist” you can view the fragment of Opgelicht?! – Privacy-lek » (Dutch)
More information on this issue can be found on the website of Opgelicht?! in the dossier Privacy-lek » (Dutch)
If you want to know more about safe(r) use of the Internet, please visit the website Veilig internetten » (Dutch)
Author Richard de Vroede
A perfectionistic Jack-of-all-trades who dedicates all of his passion to his work.
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