GCHQ’s National Cyber Security Centre, alongside 18 other agencies from 12 countries, has warned that Russian state hackers are targeting poorly configured routers to target networks belonging to critical national infrastructure firms around the world.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) Centre 16 is targeting sectors including communications, defence, energy, financial services, government and healthcare, the advisory said.

The unit, tracked as Berserk Bear, Energetic Bear, Crouching Yeti, Dragonfly, Ghost Blizzard and Static Tundra, has been seen hunting for vulnerable routers by scanning for devices that use default or weak SNMP passwords and community strings.

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Router vulnerabilities