Netgear router exploit detected

A security researcher in the US has said his Netgear router was hacked after attackers exploited a flaw in the machine.

Joe Giron told the BBC that he discovered altered admin settings on his personal router on 28 September.

The compromised router was hacked to send web browsing data to a malicious internet address.

Netgear says the vulnerability is "serious" but affects fewer than 5,000 devices.

Mr Giron found that the Domain Name System (DNS) settings on his router had been changed to a suspicious IP address.

"Normally I set mine to Google's [IP address] and it wasn't that, it was something else," he said.

"For two or three days all my DNS traffic was being sent over to them."

This means that the attacker could have tracked what websites Mr Giron was visiting, or even redirected him to malicious sites had they chosen to do so.

He has decided to turn off the router and not use it for the time being.