Audio Transcript

Mollie Halpern: Reboot your router.

That’s the recommendation the FBI is offering to help owners of home and small office routers protect themselves against a worldwide malware threat.

Foreign cyber actors used the VPNFilter malware to also infect other network attached storage devices, such as external hard drives.

The virus can collect your personally identifiable information.

Section Chief Jeff Tricoli says the reboot isn’t a complete fix but law enforcement action already taken will help prevent the virus from spreading.

Jeff Tricoli: We’ve taken over certain components of the infrastructure that the bad guys were using to propagate this malware.

Halpern: Rebooting also helps the FBI to identify victims who may not even realize their devices have been compromised.

Jeff Tricoli: We will then be able to identify the infected machines and work with the ISPs throughout the world to inform them that these machines are infected so that they can reach out for those infected customers.

Halpern: For more information, visit www.ic3.gov. With FBI, This Week, I’m Mollie Halpern of the Bureau.