I decided it would be a great hobby to buy cheap Chinese technology off of Amazon and see what I could find out.” He then got in contact with Carta and Sasnauskas at CyberNews. In starting the research, Clee originally wanted to see what kind of security low-cost Chinese devices like Wavlink had: “I was interested in seeing how much effort companies were putting into security. Want to build your personal or business site? Website builders can make it happen in no time and provide you with the necessary security certificatesĬhoose among the best web hosting services on the market - ensure your website hosting is reliable and safe Make sure your data is secure with the help of the top VPN services on the market Of the known devices affected by Mirai in the 2016 Dyn cyberattack, the majority was routers: Image source The most famous of these is the 2016 Dyn DNS cyberattack, which brought down major websites like Reddit, Netflix, CNN, GitHub, Twitter, Airbnb and more. Mirai is malware that infects devices connected to a network, turns them into remotely controlled bots as part of a botnet, and uses them in large-scale attacks.

We have also found evidence that these backdoors are being actively exploited, and there’s been an attempt to add the devices to a Mirai botnet.

Read next: Are Walmart, Amazon and eBay liable for selling vulnerable devices? The Wavlink routers also contain a script that lists nearby wifi and has the capability to connect to those networks. Watch the video below to hear directly from Sasnauskas, Clee and Carta about how they discovered the backdoors and what it means for everyday consumers:īesides the Walmart-exclusive Jetstream router, the cybersecurity research team also discovered that low-cost Wavlink routers, normally sold on Amazon or eBay, have similar backdoors. The item in question is currently out of stock and we do not have plans to replenish it.' We are looking into the issue to learn more. After we sent information about the affected Jetstream device, a Walmart spokesperson informed CyberNews: 'Thank you for bringing this to our attention. This backdoor would allow an attacker the ability to remotely control not only the routers, but also any devices connected to that network.ĬyberNews reached out to Walmart for comment and to understand whether they were aware of the Jetstream backdoor, and what they plan to do to protect their customers. Information Security Researcher Mantas Sasnauskas and researchers James Clee and Roni Carta, suspicious backdoors have been discovered in a Chinese-made Jetstream router, sold exclusively at Walmart as their new line of “affordable” wifi routers.

Update, November 27: Wavlink responded to our research findings in a blog post on November 26, and we discuss (and refute) their statements at the end of the article.

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