Hundreds of thousands of DSL modem routers given to customers by Internet providers may leave typical users vulnerable to hackers and are full of security holes, a security researcher says.

Last week at the CRESTCon and IISP Congress in London, Kyle Lovett of Cisco Systems revealed that some 700,000 house portal devices sold under the ZTE, Dlink, Sitecom, Fiberhome and other names, as well as some using private ISP labels, neglected to prevent distant takeover by hackers who could readily alter router settings to direct hapless victims to malicious sites.

Most of the versions were dispersed by ISPs in the Middle East, Latin America and Asia, although Lovett said some could be purchased off the shelf in North America, based on a writeup of Lovett’s demonstration by Lucian Constantin of IDG News Service.

The most recent susceptibility strengthen the understanding that lots of routers as well as home Internet portals spread by ISPs, along with low end versions sold in U.S. retail outlets, have shoddy security and can be readily hacked.

The alternative might be to spend more for your house router, and to ensure that your modem, while it is for cable or DSL, as well as your router are different apparatus.