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Forum Discussion
Security Update from NETGEAR?
This morning (21 June 2017), I received an E-mail message with the Subject: "Important Security Update from NETGEAR: New Firmware Is Available for Your Product". For the following two reasons, I sus...
The origiinal message source indicates the message was sent from a server with the IP address 136.147.187.62. A WhoIs query indicates that IP address belongs to either Salesforce.com, Inc. in San Francisco or else ExactTarget, Inc. in Indianapolis. According to Wikipedia, ExactTarget was the original name of Salesforce.com; but neither is connected to Netgear.
The return E-mail address domain was NOT netgear.com but e.netgear.com. A DNS lookup for netgear.com yields the IP addresses 54.200.99.0 and 54.218.118.186, both of which belong to Amazon. A DNS lookup for e.netgear.com, however, yields the IP address 68.232.201.28, which belongs to ExactTarget.
Since the US-CERT (an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security) has not reported a Netgear security vulnerability for June, this whole mess smells.
I just remembered that I have a toll-free phone number for Netgear's technical support. I called them. The technical support person said he thinks there really is an update and that the message is legitimate. I replied that, when I tried to get an update through my installed Netgear Genie, I got the message that there is no new update available. He said that I should wait 2-3 days.
In the meantime, I finally navigated to Netgear's firmware download page for my router. My current version (updated over a year ago) is still listed as the latest version.
My strong recommendation is that updates should only be obtained through the Netgear Genie (or whatever your local router user interface is called) and definitely NOT through any E-mail message.
Thanks DeRoss you certainly know the right checks to make as I too thought the email was 100% genuine BUT I NEVER TRUST these types of emails and always research via official web site or just Google the main notice as I did this time and found this Forum, I have also often complained to HMR&C that they should not send emails with links in which I assume they have been told many times, but looks like they may now be wising up as I received a regular notice the other day without the usual links, about time too.
All the best, Mel Tinys Taxis Ltd Hitchin.
Hello Everyone
Netgear did send out this email to everyone so it is not a scam.
DarrenM
No new firmware update is available via either the local router user interface (Netgear Genie) or the Netgear Web site.
The original E-mail "alert" correctly indicated that my router is WNR2000v5. However, the download Web page for WNR2000v5 firmware shows that the latest version is 1.0.0.42. I installed that version on 25 Jan 17, five months ago.
Either the "alert" is a fake (possibly an attempt to inject malware), or else Netgear's system is broken (evidenced by a very late warning to install a firmware update that was already installed).
Hello DERoss
It was a mass email just make sure your device is on the latest firmware.
DarrenM
