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FTC Takes D-Link To Court Citing Lax Product Security, Privacy Perils (networkworld.com)

Posted by msmash on from the see-you-in-court dept.

Reader coondoggie writes: The Federal Trade Commission has filed a complaint against network equipment vendor D-Link saying inadequate security in the company's wireless routers and Internet cameras left consumers open to hackers and privacy violations. The FTC, in a complaint filed in the Northern District of California charged that "D-Link failed to take reasonable steps to secure its routers and Internet Protocol (IP) cameras, potentially compromising sensitive consumer information, including live video and audio feeds from D-Link IP cameras." For its part, D-Link Systems said it "is aware of the complaint filed by the FTC." According to the FTC's complaint, D-Link promoted the security of its routers on the company's website, which included materials headlined "Easy to secure" and "Advance network security." But despite the claims made by D-Link, the FTC alleged, the company failed to take steps to address well-known and easily preventable security flaws such as "hard-coded" login credentials integrated into D-Link camera software -- such as the username âoeguestâ and the password âoeguestâ -- that could allow unauthorized access to the cameras' live feed, etc.

5 of 72 comments (clear)

  1. D-Link doesn't learn or doesn't care (or both) by Ritz_Just_Ritz · · Score: 4, Informative

    They have a history of sluggish or non-existent responses to vulnerabilities going back for many years. About 10 years ago they also had that high profile incident where they were randomly abusing NTP servers belonging to other organizations and they shrugged it off for a long time until there was a big public stink. I don't know why anyone buys that crap or trusts them with any of their data.

    1. Re:D-Link doesn't learn or doesn't care (or both) by bobbied · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Of course they care... Just only as far as there is money in it...

      Look, D-Link sells consumer products and most consumers DON'T CARE about (much less ever THINK about) security. They want a device that does what it's designed to do with a minimum of fuss or mess making it work. They don't want to call technical support, they just want to spend as little as they can in both time and money.

      Where I applaud the FTC's paying attention to such things, I'm thinking this isn't going to be very effective in getting manufacturers to knuckle under and do the security thing the right way. NOBODY (well, almost nobody) will care and they simply don't want to pay the price in dollars and time to get proper security configured in that consumer device.. The only way the FTC makes a dent is by hitting D-Link (and other manufacturers) in the pocket book really hard and I don't think they have enough leverage to do that.

      --
      "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
  2. Re: Who would ever guess that password, though? by thesupraman · · Score: 3, Funny

    More to the point.. Shouldn't they be getting an award for helping the NSA etal in their battle against the global terrorist threat by providing such open access to people's privacy?

    After all.. If you have nothing to hide...

    Isn't this just a company protectively complying with upcoming surveillance requirements that governments are claiming they need to keep us safe from ourselves?

    Isn't any form of privacy protection a form of communism?

    Or they can only be given the award in the UK just yet.. Other backwards governments havn't made such positions against their own people official.. Yet..

  3. Re:is aware of the complaint filed by the FTC by Z00L00K · · Score: 3, Insightful

    They are just starting with someone, almost every consumer grade supplier have security holes in their products and they just leave support for your device about a year after you bought it.

    --
    If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
  4. Take TP-Link also by fuzzyf · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Purchased a TP-Link router that turned out to have a backdoor.
    https://tech.slashdot.org/stor...

    Asking support about it I got the answer back that "We will not fix it. Just make sure nobody get access to your local network".

    Both TP-Link and Lenovo are on my do-not-buy list.