Belkin Routers DOS Themselves

Belkin router DOS

Yesterday, one of my small business customers called and left a frantic, cryptic message. That was unusual for several reasons. First, the customer normally emails me. Second, the person who contacted me was someone I had never spoken to before. So, what was so urgent?

Their email was down. No, wait, their entire Internet service was down. Seems that they were struck by the denial of service accidentally created by the router manufacturer Belkin against their own products. In fact, many Belkin customers were down on October 8th, 2014.

Belkin reports the problems affected older router models F9K1102, F9K1105, F9K1113 and F9K1116. The workaround proposed on their websites for the more technically inclined included substituting the DNS settings in the routers. So, in reality the problem was not a lack of connectivity, but an inability to resolve DNS (domain name service) queries.

Service was restored by 6PM EST that same day. The restoration of service was applied by an emergency patch happened automatically to any affected Belkin router that was attached to internet service. To force your router to apply the patch, unplug the unit, wait one minute, plug the unit back into power making certain the internet connection is secure, and wait an additional five minutes before testing. If you are currently experiencing issues, call the Belkin service desk at (800) 223-5546.

See more at https://belkininternationalinc.statuspage.io