Question of the Fortnight Should you chuck your Virgin Media router?

It’s slower than rivals and can be hacked in days (not millennia)

Virgin’s router was easily hacked using tools that are widely available online

Alotcan happen in 262 million years. Continents can drift, mountains can rise, species can evolve then become extinct. It’s also how long it would take hackers to break into Virgin Media’s latest router, the Hub 3.0, which makes it safe enough for us – and we suspect for most people. But worryingly 864,000 Virgin customers still use the older Super Hub 2 router, and that can be hacked in just four days.

This alarming discovery was made by a team of hackers working with consumer group Which?, as part of an investigation into the security of home devices that connect to the internet.

The weak point of the router was its default password. It was only eight characters long, using just lower-case letters from the alphabet, with two letters removed. It was easily hacked using tools that are widely available online.

Virgin responded quickly, urging customers to change the password. You can do this by connecting your computer to the Super Hub 2 with an ethernet cable, then typing the web address that’s printed on the sticker on your router (you can also see this at www. snipca.com/24782). This will open the router’s settings page. From here click Wireless Network Settings, enter your new password in the ‘passphrase’ box, restart all devices that use the router, then type your new password. Make sure this is at least 12 characters long, and includes numbers as well as upperand lower-case letters. Doing so makes the Super Hub 2 ’s default password so much harder to crack.

But while the Hub 3.0 is more secure than its predecessor, it came bottom in a recent router group test run by our sister title PC Pro. Only Sky’s routers were slower at close range than Virgin’s 47.5Mbps, but they had more features than the Hub 3.0 and so scored higher overall. BT, the other internet service provider (ISP) tested, fared much better, hitting 85.5Mbps on its Smart Hub.

All three companies were beaten by specialist router manufacturers. Topping the table with 109Mbps was Tp-link’s Archer VR2800 (£190 from Amazon www. snipca.com/24783). Netgear’s Nighthawk X10 was a close

second, hitting 102Mbps, but it costs an eye-watering £400. This isn’t pocket money. Routers from ISPS may be slower, but at least they’re ‘free’ - although the companies make up the shortfall in their contract fees (nothing is truly free, after all).

In any case, buying a new router doesn’t mean you can bin Virgin’s Hub, because the new one needs to connect to the old one to work. You’ll have to switch your Hub to modem mode (following Virgin’s instructions at www. snipca.com/24784), then attach it to your new router’s Ethernet WAN port.

So no, you shouldn’t chuck out your Virgin router. Instead, ask Virgin to upgrade you to its Hub 3.0 which, despite its poor test results, will be fast enough for most people. One Computeractive writer recently requested the latest Hub via customer services (0345 454 1111) while haggling for a cheaper deal. It arrived the next day - and yes, he changed the default password straight away. Make sure you do too.