Warning – disable networking technology feature

Israeli users are advised to follow a warning by the u.s department of home land security. U.S. Department of Homeland Security urged computer users on Tuesday to disable a common networking technology feature, after researchers warned that hackers could exploit flaws to gain access to millions of vulnerable devices.

The U.S. government’s Computer Emergency Readiness Team, on its website, advised consumers and businesses to disable a feature known as Universal Plug and Play or UPnP, and some other related features that make devices from computers to printers accessible over the open Internet.

UPnP, a communications protocol, is designed to let networks identify and communicate with equipment, reducing the amount of work it takes to set up networks. Dave Marcus, chief architect of advanced research and threat intelligence with Intel’s McAfee unit, said hackers would have a “field day” once the vulnerability in network devices is exposed.

“Historically, these are amongst the last to be updated and protected properly which makes them a gold mine for potential abuse and exploitation,” said Marcus, who advises government agencies and corporations on protections against sophisticated attacks.

Disabling UPnP once networks have already been set up, will have little impact on the operation of the devices.

The new security bugs were initially brought to the attention of the government by computer security company Rapid7, in Boston, which said it discovered between 40 million and 50 million devices that were vulnerable to attack.

The flaws could allow hackers to access confidential files, steal passwords, take full control over PCs as well as remotely access devices such as webcams, printers and security systems, according to Rapid7.