Cisco router attacks duck cyber defences, hit four countries

Bad enough: Cisco said SYNful did not take advantage of any vulnerability in its own software, instead stealing valid network administration credentials from organisations targeted in the attacks or by gaining physical access to their routers.

FRANKFURT: Security researchers say they have uncovered previously unknown attacks on routers which direct traffic around the Internet, allowing hackers to harvest vast amounts of data while going undetected by existing cybersecurity defences. 

The attacks replace the operating system used in network equipment from Cisco, the world's biggest maker of routers, the computer forensic arm of US security research firm FireEye, Mandiant, said.