Weak router password

[Gal]

So I have bought a new laptop, through my PC doctor, Stuart. He's installed several apps for me including Word etc and also transferred all my documents and photos over.

He installed Avast AV software, which I have had before but a long time ago. Up to now I have been using AVG and all was well.

Avast keeps flagging up that I need to change my router password as I am using the default one from TalkTalk. I haven't had this router long, the last one, though a LOT older, seemed not to have this issue. I asked Stuart about it but he said Avast is trying to get money from me by upgrading and not to worry.

What do you think?

[Workingman]

Gal, open a browser - Chrome, IE, Firefox, Edge. Open a new tab, except Edge, just click in the omni box.

In the address bar type in 192.168.1.1 and press enter.

After a few seconds you will be presented with a login screen asking for your username and password.

In each of the boxes type in admin all lower case, then OK or enter.

If username admin and password admin lets you in to the router settings then the password is carp and Avast is doing the job it is supposed to do. The *admin admin* pair is the factory default on loads of routers and should be changed.

[Suff]

The TalkTalk page for their routers is here.

It gives instructions with pictures for each router they have. It's worth looking under/at the back of, your router before starting to work out which one it is.

I'd suggest that Avast is actually logging into your router via that username and password or it would not have told you.

A few years back I found an open wifi network on my estate. I connected to it then logged into the router with the default password. I worked out who it was and knocked on the door and told him he had an issue. He seemed quite calm about it and told me his "it guys" would come and sort it out on Monday (this was Saturday).

I advised him that it was vital he got it done ASAP but he was not bothered. I wonder if he would have been more bothered if I'd told him that I could backup his router config and get his username and password for his internet account??

[Workingman]

What am I like? I thought that I had posted the link. Senility Rules.

[Gal]

Gal, open a browser - Chrome, IE, Firefox, Edge. Open a new tab, except Edge, just click in the omni box.

In the address bar type in 192.168.1.1 and press enter.

After a few seconds you will be presented with a login screen asking for your username and password.

In each of the boxes type in admin all lower case, then OK or enter.

If username admin and password admin lets you in to the router settings then the password is carp and Avast is doing the job it is supposed to do. The *admin admin* pair is the factory default on loads of routers and should be changed.

I have just had the chance to try this and I'm getting a 401 unauthorised screen. That's good, right?

[Workingman]

I am not sure I fully understand.

Is this when you fill in:

Username: admin
Password: admin

from the router login screen, or do you not even get to the router?

[Gal]

I put the 192 blah blah code into the IE browser bar, as you said, a box came up, as you said, with boxes in which to fill admin, admin, which I did, then was taken to the error page, as I described.

I assume this means my router password is strong enough not to allow 'admin' as a password. And there is a p/word printed on the underside of the router itself which is not 'admin'.

[Workingman]

What this tells me, Gal, is that the router password pair is not admin/admin - the default - so what is it? And just as important, if it was not changed by you or the installer, who changed it?

You say the router is not very old, and that sounds right as you say you recently upgraded. However, on another thread you mentioned something about ransomware, and Stuart having to clean things up, well that throws a few red flags here. My hunch, and it is only that, is that the ransomware *could* have changed the router password pair.

It is not a disaster and it is relatively easy to fix with a hard reset. On the back of the TalkTalk router next to the Ethernet sockets near where the power cable plugs in you will see a small hole with the title Reset. With the power on take a paperclip and carefully press in on the reset switch, its a bit of a fiddle but you will know it is done as the lights flicker. Keep the switch pressed for about 15 seconds then release. The router will reboot back to factory defaults at which time you can do the 192.168 blah blah thing and reset the username/password pair from admin/admin as described before.

The password on the sticker in random letters and numbers, example AD573BFH29 is your wireless network password.

[Gal]

Ok so I have two passwords printed on the router, one says Wifi password and the other is router password. I keep getting kicked off the internet on the laptop, only lasting seconds but very frustrating. When I do the admin thing, what do I put in the password box after doing the reset?

[Workingman]

Gal, when you do a reset it defaults back to:

Username: admin

Password: admin

See the link Suff supplied for your exact router.