Tag: router

  • Are Home Routers Safe?

    Are Home Routers Safe?

    We’re talked about router safety before, but are routers marketed to home users safe in general?

    Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Communication (FKIE) recently conducted a study on 127 routers from 7 different brands and the results were shocking.

    They found that 46 hadn’t had an update in over a year, and that many routers are affected by hundreds of known vulnerabilities.

    Many routers are powered by Linux, which releases security patches and updates throughout the year, but vendors are just not applying them. What’s worse is many routers are being shipped with known vulnerabilities and firmware updates that do not address them.

    With so many working from home using an unsafe router is one more risk that you shouldn’t have to take, especially with a brand-new router. As we mentioned in our last article on the topic, similarly to other technical products routers do reach an end of life period. However, this is typically not for at least 3 years.

    So which router brands performed the best in the study? They found that ASUS and Netgear routers performed better than other brands in the home market. There is also the option of going for a pro router which may have more features and better access to updates.

    Ubiquiti routers are one option in the pro market that we recommend. You’ll have the ability to customize quality of service rules which lets you prioritize certain kinds of traffic, like streaming video over HTTP downloads. Or it’s possible to have a guest networks so you can have a segregated LAN for guests, children or even your security cameras.

    It’s also possible to have site to site VPN, so you can access your office computer securely from home without using a third-party VPN or remote desktop service, it’s just router to router.

    There may be a sharp learning curve however when trying to implement these things yourself but updating the firmware shouldn’t be a different experience from what you’re used to from home routers.

    In general router brands need to do a much better job of securing their routers against vulnerabilities, both known and unknown – but there’s especially no excuse to leave known vulnerabilities unchecked.

    If you need assistance or have questions about routers or other technical topics, feel free to reach out! Our knowledgeable techs would be more than happy to answer your questions.

    Looking for more to read? We suggest these tech articles from the last week.

    This article was powered by Valley TechLogic, an IT provider in Atwater, CA. You can find more information at https://www.valleytechlogic.com/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/valleytechlogic/ . Follow us on Twitter at https://x.com/valleytechlogic.

    Looking for IT Services in Fresno, Modesto, Stockton, Ceres, Atwater, Merced, Visalia or Lodi? We cover all these areas and more!

  • Routers and Their Safety – How to Easily Improve Your Network

    Routers and Their Safety – How to Easily Improve Your Network

    It was recently reported by ZDnet (https://www.zdnet.com/article/unpatched-vulnerability-identified-in-79-netgear-router-models/) that 79 Netgear routers from as far back at 2007 and across 758 different firmware versions had an unpatched vulnerability that would let a hacker take over the device remotely.

    We rely on routers as our literal gateway to the internet – so how can you be sure the one you’re using is safe? Also, how can you keep it that way?

    As the above article has shown one of the ways is just to be cognizant of news regarding the devices you use. An emergency patch was issued, and a more permanent patch is planned for later this month. Even if you normally shy away from the nitty gritty technical aspects of any news cycle it’s a good idea to keep an eye out for news regarding your specific devices.

    It’s always a good idea to keep up to date on patches for all your devices. In the case of routers these normally come in the form of firmware updates.

    This may seem intimidating but here are the steps for making sure your routers firmware is up to date.

    1. Type your routers IP address into the search bar of your preferred web browser to access it’s web portal. It’s usually on the box or even on the router itself, it can also be found here (https://whatsmyrouterip.com).
    2. Enter your username and password. If this is your first-time logging in again the information can usually be found on the router itself. This is also a good time to change the password!
    3. Locate the firmware or update tab. The location may vary depending on which model router you have, referring to the instructions of your router is probably a good idea.
    4. Go to your router manufacture’s website to find the firmware update file. You can usually find it by searching for your routers model on their site.
    5. Download the update and apply it through the router’s web portal. Again, the router’s web portal is found by it’s IP address.
    6. Reboot the router to ensure the update is applied.

    By following these steps, you can be sure your router has the most up to date software version and is the most protected from bugs and malware.

    What if you can’t find a firmware update for your router? If it’s a newer model there may not be one out yet, however if your router is on the older side it may have reached it’s end of life. Every brand is different, Cisco for example has a policy of supporting routers on the software side for 3 years and the hardware side for 5 years.

    Most technical companies will provide advance notice if they have a product reaching end of life. It’s a good idea to keep track of this information for all your devices, as a device that’s not receiving regular updates may be less safe to use on the internet.

    This article was powered by Valley TechLogic, an IT provider in Atwater, CA. You can find more information at https://www.valleytechlogic.com/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/valleytechlogic/ . Follow us on Twitter at https://x.com/valleytechlogic.

    Looking for IT Services in Fresno, Modesto, Stockton, Ceres, Atwater, Merced, Visalia or Lodi? We cover all these areas and more!