Sky warns broadband customers their old Wi-Fi router is a security risk but they can claim a free upgrade today

SKY has warned customers using its old Wi-Fi routers that their aged kit is a security risk.

While there is no suggestion of an immediate threat, dated Wi-Fi hubs of any kind are far more vulnerable to attacks from cyber crooks when they stop receiving security updates.

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Security updates are technical changes that service providers routinely put out so the router is safe against new and emerging threats.

And anyone with the Sky Hub 3 or earlier no longer receive these, which puts their network at risk.

In an email to affected customers, Sky wrote: “We wanted to let you know that while your hub continues to work as normal and will keep you connected to the internet, it no longer receives (or, depending on the type of hub you have, from 2025 will stop receiving) service and security updates.”

The move comes as new regulations came into force last week forcing manufacturers to build extra security features into internet-connected products including washing machines and game consoles.

It means passwords which are too easy to guess – like “password”, “admin” or “12345” – are banned from use.

Manufacturers must now set up bug-reporting hotlines and email addresses to help make tech fixes quicker too.

Sky has told customers with old insecure routers that there are two things they can do to instantly improve the security of their current hub right now.

Firstly, they should change the administrator password.

Secondly, they should request a free replacement hub.

Those with an old hub should find the email in their inbox now.

But you only have until June 3 to claim.

“We’ll aim to deliver your hub to the address registered to Sky account by 17th June 2024,” Sky said.

“You must have received an email from us about this, be the primary account holder and are authorised to make changes to the account.”

WORST PASSWORDS TO USE

In 2019, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) compiled 20 of the most common passwords around.

Common passwords mean they’re easy for cyber thieves to guess – so if you’re using one of these you might want to change it right now.

• 123456
• 123456789
• qwerty
• password
• 1111111
• 12345678
• abc123
• 1234567
• password1
• 12345
• 1234567890
• 123123
• 000000
• Iloveyou
• 1234
• 1q2w3e4r5t
• Qwertyuiop
• 123
• Monkey
• Dragon

Names, favourite football teams, musicians and fictional characters are also very popular and therefore easy to guess.

The best sort of password is long and easy to remember – so the NCSC suggests using three random words strung together.

Of course, you shouldn’t recycle passwords on various platforms either. Should a hacker gain access to one they could then go onto access your other accounts.

So use a password manager to securely keep track of them all – Google Chrome and Safari can store these for you.

This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk