Sorry Imac but you need to read this,


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VPNFilter#Devices_at_Risk


The Asus is about the only choice right now, the Netgear 7000 although a fine unit is also being plucked at every angle, seems everyday a new thing is discovered be it a CPU, O/S or router flaw,


Anyway when you get the unit first job is factory reset regardless so you ensure anything that shouldn't be on it is hosed down before you ignite it.

Hannibal Lackluster wrote

Sorry Imac but you need to read this,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VPNFilter#Devices_at_Risk

Anyway when you get the unit first job is factory reset regardless so you ensure anything that shouldn't be on it is hosed down before you ignite it.

I saw that list the day after I ordered it! Oh well. I certainly feel better knowing this model will have up-to-date firmware vs the 2-year old firmware in my C8. And I definitely plan to do a factory reset before I update the firmware.

lmacmil wrote

I saw that list the day after I ordered it! Oh well. I certainly feel better knowing this model will have up-to-date firmware vs the 2-year old firmware in my C8. And I definitely plan to do a factory reset before I update the firmware.

Good man, drop back later to let us know how it is, I like the Asus interface but my history of Asus isn't good I'm afraid and until they got a rocket in the ace they didn't want to patch anything either, I wonder sometimes if patching closes one hole and opens another and that's why updates aren't always forthcoming, WPS and UPNP OFF remember, two most basic things to do when setting up,

Y'know the killer aspect to all of this is if TPL did support properly they'd mop the market up, I went for their product based of a good history of purchases in the past, Powerline kits being the snoogalez back in the day, and for anyone else reading, that thing the isp sent you free, ditch it asap, it was free for a reason.

Hannibal Lackluster wrote

.... WPS and UPNP OFF remember, two most basic things to do when setting up,

I have those off now which was probably the default setting because I don't remember changing anything. What is the security problem if WPS is on? A new user would have to have physical access to the router or know the PIN, right?

Hannibal Lackluster wrote

Good man, drop back later to let us know how it is, I like the Asus interface...

The router arrived today. I bought a refurbished unit from Newegg but it looks brand new. Had a bit of trouble getting it set up but it was not the router's fault! ;)

I did a factory reset, changed the password, updated the firmware to the latest release (5/27/18!!) and am good to go. WPS and UPNP are off! I do like the interface, seems more up-to-date than TP-Link. I may go with Merlin eventually but right now it is 2 releases behind so I'll stick with the Asus firmware at least until Merlin catches up. Thanks for all your help.

lmacmil wrote

The router arrived today. I bought a refurbished unit from Newegg but it looks brand new. Had a bit of trouble getting it set up but it was not the router's fault! ;)

I did a factory reset, changed the password, updated the firmware to the latest release (5/27/18!!) and am good to go. WPS and UPNP are off! I do like the interface, seems more up-to-date than TP-Link. I may go with Merlin eventually but right now it is 2 releases behind so I'll stick with the Asus firmware at least until Merlin catches up. Thanks for all your help.

Good stuff my man, keep us updated as to whether it behaves or not, they generally seem to have issues with dropping the connection, not sure if that's LAN or WIFI though, think a lot of the bad reviews are probably written by people who aren't too sure how to set it up properly and end up making a mess of it because regardless of whose product it is the general trend is to have a help function that simply tells the user that this button turns things on and off without any explanation about what the function actually does,

Make sure you have the NAT enabled if you are using a protocol that needs it enabling and the SPi firewall/s and ddos protection enabled, using the Google dns is also a good idea, have a good look through the functions offline and familiarize yourself with them and choose what to have enabled or disabled and always scroll the whole page as there is sometimes hidden by the browser orientation options and hidden functions that you won't see unless you enable certain other things, reading you how I think you read you want this router as secure as it can possibly be don't you, lots of functions get factory enabled that you don't really need nor want working, as I'm unsure of how familiar you are with things I won't suggest anything more than the basic stuff but you may want to read up on pings and local/remote management etc, and test yourself with the old Steve Gibson router checker, it's totally safe and it will give your ports an examination, the more stealth ratings you can achieve the better,

Hope these snips help you and others reading to stay safer online.

There's also a lot going on behind the scenes right now, the Netgear Nighthawk 7000 just shed 30% of it's asking price yesterday which suggests Netgear can't patch it properly without some chip modding, as it's one of the Feds hitlist routers for being VPN targeted it makes you wonder if the hack is a bit more resilient than we are being told, you should keep an eye on the Asus one as well as that although patched is also a targeted unit, it's its tech age that puts me off as it's not a cheap router and although routers are basically routers their CPU's do change over time leading to more secure processing allegedly,

I think the industry slackness is about to come through the door like a runaway train in an origami factory, when I look back at the unit the isp provided I shudder and even more so when I see the config it arrived in that they don't offer any help about, "here's your unit sir just change the admin and password and you'll be ok", should be shot for, flippancy imo, lets hope the next gen routers are better featured and more secure if that's possible, the people causing the issues are basically modern day Einsteins with brains like calculators, very clever ppl imo,

Going deep I think this will eventually lead to mankind's destruction, if the terminators don't get us mutually assured destruction will, it's all looking very Deus Ex right now from where I'm sitting.

Hannibal Lackluster wrote

There's also a lot going on behind the scenes right now, the Netgear Nighthawk 7000 just shed 30% of it's asking price yesterday which suggests Netgear can't patch it properly without some chip modding, as it's one of the Feds hitlist routers for being VPN targeted it makes you wonder if the hack is a bit more resilient than we are being told, you should keep an eye on the Asus one as well as that although patched is also a targeted unit, it's its tech age that puts me off as it's not a cheap router and although routers are basically routers their CPU's do change over time leading to more secure processing allegedly,

From what I understand, a factory reset gets rid of the VPN vulnerability. I'm hoping a factory reset followed by flashing the latest firmware, changing the default login and password, turning off WPS and UPNP will keep it safe but who knows. At any rate, I will check the Asus website periodically so that I keep the firmware up-to-date.

You should be ok now mate, bear in mind and I've only just found info on it Asus and Netgear help themselves to a semi backdoor to spy on you, not sure if TPL do the same, Netgear you can turn it off but haven't found anything on Asus yet,

Got wireless mouse, keyboard, printer etc look to replace with wired variants, quietly mentioned risks can be found by searching, if car makers did this by selling cars with randomly working brakes and self unlocking etc they'd be for it, oops silly me they already do it's called KESSY!

I set up my isp router yesterday to have a curious look at how risky it really was, my toes curled tbh, everthing you wouldn't want enabled was enabled from wps to T-069 etc, funny thing it came from a factory in China that has just been fingered for producing backdoored mobile phones, perhaps if we have another war the mentality will be to order ordinance from the country we are at war with because it's cheaper than producing our own, you really couldn't make it up and it's a shocking mentality when you really look at it logically.

TP-Link remains silent...What a sad company