FBI offers urgent guidance on securing home routers after disrupting Russian intelligence hacking network 

By Eric Revell⁠74%

4/15/2026, 8:32:55 PM

BS Summary: The article has not yet been analyzed.

Foreign hackers are looking to exploit vulnerabilities in Americans' internet routers, and the FBI is offering tips for securing your home or office routers after it announced actions it took to crack down on a Russian hacking unit. 
Last week, the FBI and Justice Department announced they conducted a court-authorized operation to neutralize a U.S. portion of a network of small office/home office (SOHO) routers that were compromised by a unit within Russia's Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff (GRU) Military Unit 26165. 
The GRU used the routers to facilitate malicious Domain Name System (DNS) hijacking operations against worldwide targets of intelligence interest to the Russian government, including individuals in the military, government and critical infrastructure sectors. 
They used known vulnerabilities to steal credentials for thousands of TP-Link routers, manipulating those routers' settings to direct requests to GRU-controlled servers. 
US BANS NEW FOREIGN-MADE CONSUMER INTERNET ROUTERS OVER SECURITY CONCERNS 
"The FBI has determined that Russian GRU cyber actors have compromised vulnerable routers in the U.S. and around the world, hijacking them to conduct espionage," Brett Leatherman, assistant director of the FBI's Cyber Division, told FOX Business. 
"Unsuspecting Americans in at least 23 states owned routers that were exploited by Russian military intelligence. 
Given the scale of this threat, the FBI conducted a court-authorized operation to disrupt the GRU's access to compromised devices within the U.S." 
The operation involved collecting evidence from the compromised routers, resetting their DNS settings to ensure they aren't directed to the GRU's DNS resolvers and preventing Russia from exploiting the original means of access. 
The government said in court documents that it extensively tested the operation on firmware and hardware for affected TP-Link routers, and, other than blocking the GRU's access, it didn't harm the routers' normal functionality or collect the legitimate users' content information. 
CRYPTO FRAUD TOPS FBI'S ANNUAL CRIME REPORT AS AMERICANS LOSE BILLIONS TO SCAMS 
Leatherman said, "Along with that effort, the FBI, NSA and international partners from 15 countries released a public service announcement with technical information and defensive guidance. 
While rebooting your router can mitigate some threats, it will not address this one." 
The PSA encourages users of SOHO devices to replace end-of-life and end-of-support routers; upgrade to the latest available firmware; verify the authenticity of DNS resolvers listed in router settings; and review and implement firewall settings to prevent the unwanted exposure of remote management systems. 
MICROSOFT IDENTIFIES CHINESE HACKING GROUPS BEHIND PERSISTENT SHAREPOINT SERVER ATTACKS 
Users are also encouraged to navigate to the official TP-Link website and review documentation for their affected device in the download center to learn about proper configurations. 
Additionally, they should ensure their routers are upgraded to the latest firmware and review the end-of-life products list to determine if their routers should be replaced. 
"We urge all owners of small office/home office (SOHO) routers to replace end-of-support devices, update to the latest firmware versions, change default usernames and passwords, disable remote management interfaces from the internet and stay alert for certificate warnings in web browsers and email clients," Leatherman said. 
GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE 
"Take the remediation steps outlined in our PSA, because defending our networks requires all of us." 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 7.5%Eric Revell: 2.6%FoxBusiness: 4.4%Confirmation Bias7.5%This article: 0.0%Eric Revell: 4.7%FoxBusiness: 3.4%Anchoring Bias0.0%This article: 13.2%Eric Revell: 3.6%FoxBusiness: 4.1%Availability Heuristic13.2%This article: 6.2%Eric Revell: 1.3%FoxBusiness: 1.1%Representativeness Heuristic6.2%This article: 0.0%Eric Revell: 0.4%FoxBusiness: 0.7%Hindsight Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Eric Revell: 3.0%FoxBusiness: 3.7%Overconfidence Bias0.0%This article: 11.4%Eric Revell: 11.0%FoxBusiness: 12.9%Framing Effect11.4%This article: 20.7%Eric Revell: 1.4%FoxBusiness: 1.5%Loss Aversion20.7%This article: 7.3%Eric Revell: 1.4%FoxBusiness: 1.1%Status Quo Bias7.3%This article: 0.0%Eric Revell: 0.1%FoxBusiness: 0.2%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Eric Revell: 9.5%FoxBusiness: 8.8%Optimism Bias0.0%This article: 2.6%Eric Revell: 1.7%FoxBusiness: 2.0%Pessimism Bias2.6%This article: 28.8%Eric Revell: 6.9%FoxBusiness: 7.9%Negativity Bias28.8%This article: 0.0%Eric Revell: 2.5%FoxBusiness: 4.5%Self-Serving Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Eric Revell: 0.5%FoxBusiness: 0.9%Fundamental Attribution Error0.0%This article: 0.0%Eric Revell: 0.0%FoxBusiness: 0.2%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 2.9%Eric Revell: 0.6%FoxBusiness: 1.7%In-Group Bias2.9%This article: 0.0%Eric Revell: 0.1%FoxBusiness: 0.8%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Eric Revell: 3.1%FoxBusiness: 3.8%Halo Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Eric Revell: 0.0%FoxBusiness: 0.1%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Eric Revell: 0.0%FoxBusiness: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 15.2%Eric Revell: 2.8%FoxBusiness: 2.3%Recency Bias15.2%This article: 0.0%Eric Revell: 0.4%FoxBusiness: 0.4%Primacy Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Eric Revell: 0.1%FoxBusiness: 0.1%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Eric Revell: 0.2%FoxBusiness: 0.8%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 0.0%Eric Revell: 0.1%FoxBusiness: 0.4%Straw Man0.0%This article: 38.7%Eric Revell: 6.7%FoxBusiness: 7.2%Appeal to Authority38.7%This article: 2.6%Eric Revell: 1.2%FoxBusiness: 1.6%False Dilemma2.6%This article: 0.0%Eric Revell: 0.8%FoxBusiness: 1.2%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%Eric Revell: 0.2%FoxBusiness: 0.2%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 7.0%Eric Revell: 4.2%FoxBusiness: 6.3%Hasty Generalization7.0%This article: 0.0%Eric Revell: 0.4%FoxBusiness: 0.8%Red Herring0.0%This article: 2.9%Eric Revell: 0.9%FoxBusiness: 1.2%Bandwagon2.9%This article: 4.6%Eric Revell: 3.4%FoxBusiness: 6.1%Appeal to Emotion4.6%This article: 4.2%Eric Revell: 0.8%FoxBusiness: 1.2%Begging the Question4.2%This article: 0.0%Eric Revell: 3.9%FoxBusiness: 4.4%Post Hoc (False Cause)0.0%This article: 0.0%Eric Revell: 0.0%FoxBusiness: 0.1%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 0.0%Eric Revell: 0.1%FoxBusiness: 0.4%Burden of Proof0.0%This article: 0.0%Eric Revell: 0.1%FoxBusiness: 0.1%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%Eric Revell: 0.2%FoxBusiness: 0.3%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 0.0%Eric Revell: 1.0%FoxBusiness: 2.4%Anecdotal0.0%This article: 0.0%Eric Revell: 0.0%FoxBusiness: 0.1%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 0.0%Eric Revell: 2.1%FoxBusiness: 1.9%Ambiguity (Equivocation)0.0%This article: 0.0%Eric Revell: 0.0%FoxBusiness: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Eric Revell: 0.2%FoxBusiness: 0.1%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%Eric Revell: 0.1%FoxBusiness: 0.1%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 6.1%Eric Revell: 0.1%FoxBusiness: 0.3%Special Pleading6.1%This article: 0.0%Eric Revell: 0.1%FoxBusiness: 0.2%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 9.7%Eric Revell: 1.3%FoxBusiness: 1.8%Unattributed Quote9.7%This article: 6.8%Eric Revell: 0.9%FoxBusiness: 1.4%Quote-first Misdirection6.8%This article: 12.7%Eric Revell: 3.2%FoxBusiness: 4.1%Biased Writer Voice12.7%This article: 29.2%Eric Revell: 1.9%FoxBusiness: 1.7%Indoctrination29.2%This article: 0.0%Eric Revell: 0.0%FoxBusiness: 0.1%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Eric Revell: 0.7%FoxBusiness: 2.1%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 6.6%Eric Revell: 2.8%FoxBusiness: 4.4%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…6.6%

545 words analyzed.

Speakers

1speaker28%attributed speech390writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Writer's voice • 14 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 38 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 46 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 34 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 22 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 10 words • 0.0% coverageBrett Leatherman • 37 words • 100.0% coverageBrett Leatherman • 16 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 23 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 33 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 41 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 13 words • 0.0% coverageBrett Leatherman • 26 words • 0.0% coverageBrett Leatherman • 14 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 44 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 10 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 27 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 26 words • 100.0% coverageBrett Leatherman • 46 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 9 words • 100.0% coverageBrett Leatherman • 16 words • 100.0% coverage
Selected voice

Brett Leatherman

100%flagged-word coverage
155 attributed words100% of attributed speech100% writer coverage
0%20.0%40.0%Indoctrination+15.1 ptsWriter: 24.9%Brett Leatherman: 40.0%40.0%Unattributed Quote+34.2 ptsWriter: 0.0%Brett Leatherman: 34.2%34.2%Quote-first Misdirection+23.9 ptsWriter: 0.0%Brett Leatherman: 23.9%23.9%Biased Writer Voice-5.1 ptsWriter: 14.1%Brett Leatherman: 9.0%9.0%Attempt to Sell a Product -9.2 ptsWriter: 9.2%Brett Leatherman: 0.0%0.0%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.