If youāre reading this, something worth knowing just happened.
TODAYāS TECH ALERT
This alert is sponsored by ExpressVPN. More on what ExpressVPN can do for you right now below.*
Image: ChatGPT
That little box in your hallway collecting dust? The FBI confirmed it may be working for Russia.
In April 2026, the FBI, NSA and Department of Justice issued a joint red alert. Russian military hackers, a GRU unit known as APT28 or Fancy Bear, have been hijacking thousands of home and small-office routers across 23 U.S. states.Ā
The FBI went to court to get authorization to push fixes to compromised routers inside the U.S. Thatās how serious this is.
And the DOJ was direct about it: The threat is not fully neutralized.
šµļø How you get hijacked
Normally, when you type chaseā .ā com into your browser, your router looks up the address and takes you there. These hackers rewrote your routerās address book. So you type chaseā .ā com, and they silently redirect you to a fake login page that looks identical to the real one. You enter your password. They have it. You never knew anything happened.
No warning. No error message. Your browser shows the correct-looking URL the whole time.
The routers they targeted most: TP-Link WR841N and Ubiquiti EdgeRouters. Two of the most popular budget routers in the world. At the peak last December, more than 18,000 compromised routers across 120 countries were phoning home to Russian servers.
And this week, Medtronic confirmed hackers stole records tied to 9 million people. The FBI is busy. Nowhere feels safe.
š What to do right now
First, a warning: A simple reboot wonāt fix this. The FBI said so explicitly. You need a full factory reset. Hereās the sequence:
Factory reset your router. Hold the reset button on the back for 10-30 seconds until the lights flash.
Update your firmware immediately. Go to your manufacturerās website, find your model, download the latest version.
Change your default admin password. Never leave it as āadminā or āpassword.ā
Disable remote management. In your router settings, turn off anything labeled āRemote Accessā or āWAN Management.ā
Then add one more super important layer.Ā
When you use ExpressVPN, your traffic gets encrypted before it even touches your router. Even if Russian hackers have rewritten your address book, all they intercept is scrambled, unreadable code. Your hardware could be compromised, but the encryption happens upstream of all of it.
Your router is the front door to everything in your house. Your bank. Your email. Your kidsā devices. The FBI is standing on your porch telling you the lock has been picked. Thatās not just metaphor. Thatās the actual press release.
Encrypts your traffic before it leaves your device. Hackers intercept scrambled code, not your passwords.
Works on every device at once. Phone, laptop, tablet. One account covers up to 14 devices.
Takes 30 seconds to turn on. Tap once. Done.
I use it myself. No referral fees. No kickbacks. Thatās a straight recommendation from someone who covers this stuff every day.Ā
ā Right now, you get 4 extra months at ExpressVPN.com/Kim. Go do it.
š© Send this to someone who has never logged into their router settings.
Sources:
Photo credit(s): ChatGPT
* This alert was made possible by our sponsor, ExpressVPN. I only partner with brands that I personally use or believe provide significant value to my community.