The FBI is warning owners of some internet routers their devices could leave them vulnerable to cyber attacks.

The new bulletin from the FBI’s Cyber Division said some old routers – known as End-of-Life routers or EOLs – have known vulnerabilities that can make them easy to infiltrate and install malware. Then, the routers can be used to “launch coordinated attacks or sell access to the devices as proxy services,” the bulletin noted.

Routers that were made years ago are not supported by vendors with software updates or patches to fix known vulnerabilities. Scammers, aware of this lack of protection, can hijack the routers and then sell off the access.

List of vulnerable devices

If you own one of these devices, the FBI has some advice: get a new one.

“The FBI recommends users replace compromised devices with newer models or prevent infection by disabling remote administration and rebooting the router,” it warned.

Vulnerable devices include:

• E1200

• E2500

• E1000

• E4200

• E1500

• E300

• E3200

• WRT320N

• E1550

• WRT610N

• E100

• M10

• WRT310N

What about password protection?

Password protection won’t be enough to solve the problem, the FBI warned.

“The malware is distributed by targeting vulnerable devices connected to the internet with remote administration turned on,” the notice said. “Even with the remote administration password protected, the threat actors are able to bypass this authentication and gain shell access to the routers.”

Chinese cyber criminals are among those targeting the EOL devices, the FBI said, and could potentially use them to hack into critical infrastructure.

You can go here to see more information from the FBI.