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Security flaws in the popular Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) standard have prompted the Department of Homeland Security to warn individuals and businesses of the danger in leaving UPnP features activated.

Many devices use UPnP to help them easily connect to a network, and are quite vulnerable to attacks. Since the release of a study outlining the security holes, it is expected that hackers will begin utilizing UPnP weaknesses to steal data and even takeover computers remotely.

Article Excerpt:

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security urged computer users on Tuesday to disable a common networking technology feature, after researchers warned that hackers could exploit flaws to gain access to tens of millions of vulnerable devices.

The U.S. government’s Computer Emergency Readiness Team advised consumers and businesses to disable a feature known as Universal Plug and Play or UPnP, and some other related features that make devices from computers to printers accessible over the open Internet.

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