Router Security

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labbe5
Posts: 2159
Joined: Wed 13 Nov 2013, 14:26
Location: Canada

Router Security

#1 Post by labbe5 »

https://routersecurity.org/

This site focuses on the security of routers. Period. If you are interested in faster WiFi, look elsewhere. The site covers configuration changes to make a router more secure, and, picking a router that is more secure out of the box.

Why devote an entire site to router security?

I used to be like you. That is, I would buy a router, it would work fine and I would ignore it for years. However, after some huge router flaws, affecting millions of routers, caught my attention, I started following the topic more closely. As a Defensive Computing guy, I eventually realized that I needed to upgrade my own router security and get more up to speed on the topic. After all, if a router gets infected with malware, or re-configured in a malicious way, most people would never know. There is no anti-virus software for routers.

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rufwoof
Posts: 3690
Joined: Mon 24 Feb 2014, 17:47

#2 Post by rufwoof »

Nice link, thanks.

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drunkjedi
Posts: 882
Joined: Mon 25 May 2015, 02:50

#3 Post by drunkjedi »

The page doesn't open for me.
Maybe because I am on mobile?
I tried it yesterday and again now...

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Fossil
Posts: 1157
Joined: Tue 13 Dec 2005, 21:36
Location: Gloucestershire, UK.

#4 Post by Fossil »

The website was unobtainable until I searched for it using Startpage, and then went through their proxy :lol:. Excellent information.

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drunkjedi
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Joined: Mon 25 May 2015, 02:50

#5 Post by drunkjedi »

Now that I am using PC, it did open directly, I didn't have to use any proxy.

belham2
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Joined: Mon 15 Aug 2016, 22:47

#6 Post by belham2 »

The guy who wrote the page/blog (in labbes link), he seems to know his stuff. I first came across in late 2013, early 2014. I think a router breach scares many of us more than OS breach, for two simple facts: 1) as Labbe says, if your router gets pawnd, it is tough to figure it out, and 2) with Puppies and/or Linux OSes, we all pretty much know how to--if a problem is suspected---just blast it away, DD whatever, and reload & you are back and running. Routers are more finicky, I know, as I have been running Brainslayer's DD-WRT builds for about ~10 years now. With both Brainslayer & Kong, I'd rather trust my router to them, where their releases are tested continually by a boat load of users & results posted daily, than go with a manufacturer like Cisco, TP-Link, Asus, Netgear, etc, etc who sometimes takes months if not year or more to patch major flaws. With DD-WRT, at least, stuff is patched in days to weeks. Big router manufacturer indifference is one of the reasons M. Horowitz talks about outfits like Pepwave/Peplink.

The even bigger mystery, though, is the huge routers that sit behind our home routers. At those nodes and data centers, in today's world, that is the real attack point of hardcore malware purveyors. They know if they get into those, especially undetected, all bets are off the table for anything.

And manufacturers, especially Cisco, has not ever been forthcoming on how many of their current and dated routers are known problems and/or dangerous. They are worse, way worse, than Intel, Microsoft, AMD, etc.

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