The adage ‘you get what you pay for’ has been highlighted recently in a spate of malware attacks which targeted lower price range routers, causing untold damage to businesses.
In November 2016 around 100,000 UK Post Office broadband customers were infected by malware which targeted certain routers, preventing users connecting to the internet. This ‘Mirai worm’ was the same malware that disrupted the internet, TV and phone networks of 900,000 German Deutsche Telekom and customers of TalkTalk.
Hackers had infiltrated 4 router manufacturers, exposing a weakness in at least two models supplied to Deutsche Telekom’s customers as well as those lower priced routers supplied to Post Office and Talk Talk customers.
In such a competitive market, where price conscious buyers are looking for the best deal, big carriers such as Talk Talk, BT and Virgin, offer cheaper broadband deals with FREE routers which is of course commercially attractive to customers. However, you do get what you pay for and RHM Telecom’s opinion is that deploying FREE or cheap routers is a false economy particularly for small businesses.
Access to the internet is the lifeblood of any business and by spending a little more on a more technically robust router can save £1000’s in the long term. “We would always recommend our customers spend that little bit more if possible,” explained RHM Telecom’s M.D. Nick Thomas. “A Draytek router for £100 for example compared to a value for money Zyxel router that costs £28 has certain extra features allowing us to remotely access and action any threats as well as being able to lock down certain business critical applications.”
A few of RHM Telecom’s customers were also affected by the Mirai worm, all of these had chosen low cost routers. “Our task force immediately went into overdrive to solve any issues our customers were having. Where needed we shipped out new routers and worked with customers around the clock to ensure their access to the internet was restored.”
One of RHM Telecom’s customers, who relies upon more than 150 homeworkers, immediately upgraded its routers and migrated to fibre connection.
It’s just not worth counting pennies when it comes to the security of your business.
© rhm telecommunications 2024
