ICSA Labs builds defense system for broadband home routers

Your broadband home gateway may not be as safe you think it is. As hackers step up their efforts to tap into gateways to steal personal data, ICSA Labs, an independent division of Verizon Business (NYSE:VZ), is fighting back with a new security certification program for home gateway vendors.

Through the Broadband Home Router Certification program, ICSA Labs can evaluate a home router's ability to not only detect harmful and safe data, but also deny malicious traffic.

Having an ICSA-certified router could provide a piece of mind for consumers, most of whom either don't know how to configure security settings on their routers or just believe the settings are already in place.

However, Brian Monkman, technology programs manager for ICSA Labs said they are "seeing an increase in attacks against home routers. He added that "the threat is exacerbated by the fact that these routers are designed to be plug-and-play. Usually, a consumer buys a home router and configures it quickly and easily, while assuming the router has the appropriate security safeguards in place, which unfortunately is not always the case."

For more:
- see the release here

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