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May 2009

Eyeing home network security, D-Link brings CAPTCHA to routers. At about 76 percent of all phishing attacks, software represents the largest doorway that cybercriminals such as hackers use to enter computer users’ systems and steal confidential information, IT security experts say. One Cupertino, California-based security, storage and systems management solutions provider, Symantec Corp., recently reported that it is seeing malicious code grow at a record pace. In recent weeks, more and more home and small office computers have seen their networks compromised by Internet security attacks that gain traction through the devices that many use to make users’ home-surfing lives more portable: routers. In an effort to try and preempt the attacks, one Fountain Valley, California-based company recently launched a new system that prevents malicious software by detecting whether responses are generated by humans or computers. Officials at D-Link say their so-called “CAPTCHA” system, short for “Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart,” helps identify and root out actions caused by worms, viruses and Trojan horses. A common type of CAPTCHA requires the user to type letters or numbers from a distorted image that appears on the screen. “These malicious software invasions, in which users unknowingly download a Trojan horse when performing common tasks, invade the router to detect wireless capabilities, then alter the victim’s domain name system records so that all future traffic is diverted through the attackers’ network first,” company officials say. “The integration of CAPTCHA into home routers is a natural extension of this security technology and should cut down on the infiltration of malicious software, spyware and Trojans into home networks,” the TMC president said.