Can a router be hacked so it forwards traffic somewhere?

I was wondering if a router could be hacked so that while there is no trojan or whatever you'd call it on the computer, whatever information you send out on the internet would be going to someone or somewhere else. What I'm worried about is while there is no trojan/malware on my computer that my router could have been hacked so when I do my online banking the information I submit could be intercepted by someone. I don't know if I'm making sense, but is this possible?

I'm using DSL btw. My computer plugs into the router and the router plugs into the wall.

There is something called the man in the middle attack. Generally you could setup an access point named attwifi for example - and set it up such that the dns redirects certain known sites - such as banks, cellphone companies, etc with logins and money associated so you could pick up names and passwords. Generally if you are diligent and use https and look at certificates these attacks shouldn't work. Even then I tend not to use any sites with sensitive logins on networks I don't know. It is a little paranoid but I do have the luxury of having my own cellular wifi hotspot.

Anyway - if someone hacked your router, that someone could point to some bad dns so that typing in a bank site redirects to their site. What makes you think that your router got hacked? As noted before if you look at the https and the certificate information it should be pretty easy to tell if it is the actual bank. Here is more information
Verifying legitimate bank websites | Defensive Computing - CNET News

Do you have any idea if the firmware on my router can be infected? Would doing a hard reset (pushing the tiny button) reset my firmware to its factory settings?

New2TheMac said:

Do you have any idea if the firmware on my router can be infected? Would doing a hard reset (pushing the tiny button) reset my firmware to its factory settings?

Click to expand...

A hard reset will never reset your firmware, only your settings/configuration (and this only for a consumer type ISR, the corporate ones don't have such a feature). Firmware cannot be "restored" per se after it's been changed, only over written again. As long as you follow best practices for router passwords, security, etc., the posibility of someone remotely installing hacked firmware onto your router is pretty slim.

I'd like to echo what the poster above asked, what makes you think your router has been compromised?

You can always download a program like PeerBlock that monitors and restricts your internet traffic so you know where it's headed from your PC. As far as tracking it after it hits the router, I'm not sure how to do that.

I'm worried because I went to this website: Router Hacking Part 1 (The Basics) Tutorial

It seems to be a hacking website and I'm afraid that after viewing the page and watching the video that my router can be hacked since it's a hacking website.

And I want to note I'm not afraid because of what was said in the video, but because it doesn't seem like a safe website. I'm afraid by going there and watching the video that I could have been hacked.

Did it ask you to install a codec? Generally speaking watching a video won't get you hacked unless you are requested to download a codec and install something - which is a possibility. Only install codecs from trusted sources.

There are some cross scripting hacks that may work if you are not patched. If I go to a website that I don't know I tend to use firefox with noscript and cookiesafe plugins installed. Its a couple of extra clicks to watch videos but for me the security is worth it.

No, it didn't ask me to install a codec. I had to let noscript allow the video to be played after clicking on it. I'm afraid my router or computer could be hacked after going to that website and watching the video because it seems to be a hacking website, which doesn't seem to be a safe place to go to.

i wouldnt worry

although a quick way to find some malware specific to your operating system is to search about what kind of malware your OS is vulnerable to, i wouldnt worry unless i was a version of windows;
there have been very few, if not none, exploits that didnt require you to type your admin passwd;
other than that, i would worry more about someone sniffing the traffic that your wireless access point sends out;
especially if you live in an area that is densely populated;
you just need to go to your routers homepage, open a browser with firefox while plugged into your router, type 192.168.1.1 in the browser bar,
you should see a screen that asks for username and passwd,
check your routers manual or google, but they are usually "admin" for the username (no quotations) and "password" "passwd" or "admin" for the password (no quotations),
so then you are at your router config page, change the password, and take some time to read the settings,
make sure you are using WPA or WPA2 security,
this is the service that asks for a password when you connect to your network, make sure the password is a bunch of upper and lower case symbols and numbers and letters, like "ghiYYR@%mycomp" would be a good password,
why?
your password is cracked by computers that sit near your access point and gather data, then use that data in a password cracker that goes through iterations of symbols, commonly using all the words in a dictionary for starters, so "apple" would probably be an easy to crack password;
i wouldnt worry, your mac is EXTREMELY secure, so is your linux!^_^