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Security Begins at the Home Router

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Re: Security Begins at the Home Router

#51

Post by nasredin »

arminiusreturns wrote: post #24

I mostly blame cable and docsis for this state of things, on top of the router manufacturers. Which is why I am happy to hear of increasing fiber rollouts. Docsis gives the ISP the ability to control the router, but they are very bad at it and even if they aren't it's often the manufacturers who are the problem. So I always have bought my own cable modems instead of renting from the ISP. The last time I did this I we…

Can you download hosts lists, block ads and serve 1*1 pixel image instead of ads with your EdgeRouter?

Re: Security Begins at the Home Router

#52

Post by agentx3r »

firefistace77 wrote: post #36

I'll take this opportunity to ask the community, what is a recommend router? It's going to be me and my roommate only (with friends and family over) and I would like to get something secure and also reliable (and preferably on the cheaper side) Any suggestions? I believe we have Cox if that is any factor....

Ubiquiti makes great prosumer stuff, if you're willing to pay ~$120 for the 'router', and then another ~$100 for the wireless access point. That's not 'cheap', but it's about on par what you'd pay for a fancy consumer router that looks like a spaceship.

You'll get a great interface, frequent firmware updates with new features and security fixes, and you'll have a good strong signal at your neighbour's house if you're going for a visit.

Re: Security Begins at the Home Router

#53

Post by eric_h »

tomjakubowski wrote: post #12
frockington wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only con I can think to that is the initial influx of support questions. I have no idea why this is not the default now, its simple, user friendly, and way more secure

Cox (Orange County) and Verizon Fios (Los Angeles) delivered routers with good-looking, seemingly randomly generated passwords printed on a label. It's been this way with Cox for at least six years.

I have Fios in NYC and the password is also available on the account page on Verizon's website, which I find a bit unsettling.

Re: Security Begins at the Home Router

#54

Post by zrm »

Osmium wrote: post #46
firefistace77 wrote: post #36

I'll take this opportunity to ask the community, what is a recommend router? It's going to be me and my roommate only (with friends and family over) and I would like to get something secure and also reliable (and preferably on the cheaper side) Any suggestions? I believe we have Cox if that is any factor....

In particular, recommendations for consumer routers would be welcome. Last time this came up, the line seemed to be "consumer routers are trash, if you want security you have to use an enterprise router." There might be some truth in this, but it isn't helpful. Surely not all consumer routers are equally bad?

So there are two main issues with consumer routers. The first is that the hardware is garbage. This isn't universally true, but it's a strong general rule, and models get released and discontinued all the time so the short list of models that aren't garbage changes every year.

The main security issue is that the vendors stop issuing security updates after they stop selling the router even though people are still using it, and the software that comes on it is usually crap to begin with. The solution to this is to get one you can install OpenWRT or Debian or whatever you prefer on it, do that as soon as you buy it and then it doesn't matter what the vendor does. But note that not all routers are supported by the software you want to use.

Also remember that a router is just a computer with multiple network ports on it. Adding another network port to your old laptop is a time-honored tradition. The hardware will be faster, the drivers are usually better, it has a built-in battery to survive power bumps, etc.

Re: Security Begins at the Home Router

#55

Post by ipython »

agentx3r wrote: post #52
firefistace77 wrote: post #36

I'll take this opportunity to ask the community, what is a recommend router? It's going to be me and my roommate only (with friends and family over) and I would like to get something secure and also reliable (and preferably on the cheaper side) Any suggestions? I believe we have Cox if that is any factor....

Ubiquiti makes great prosumer stuff, if you're willing to pay ~$120 for the 'router', and then another ~$100 for the wireless access point. That's not 'cheap', but it's about on par what you'd pay for a fancy consumer router that looks like a spaceship. You'll get a great interface, frequent firmware updates with new features and security fixes, and you'll have a good strong signal at your neighbour's house if you're…

You can get the EdgeRouter X for ~$50 and that will scale to symmetric gigabit connections, if your needs are simple (ie. you're just doing basic routing & firewalling, not trying to do traffic shaping, etc). Budget AP option then is a UAP-AC-Lite which you can buy off Amazon for ~$80, bringing your total to $130 all said and done.

That's cheaper than most all-in-one routers, and while you won't get the best single-client bandwidth, you will get much better management/configuration options.

Re: Security Begins at the Home Router

#56

Post by ateesdalejr »

ozim wrote: post #44
thomastjeffery wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with that is that they pick awful sets to generate from. Instead of a string of random letters and numbers, they should be a string of words. It's frustrating to visit someone's home, and have to enter (on a phone keyboard, no less) some lengthy gibberish that they never bothered to change.

When I have to generate pw for such use case I use: http://www.dinopass.com/

Only reason I would be concerned about using that specific generator in particular would be the fact that it severely limits your passwords to the "kid-friendly" set.

Re: Security Begins at the Home Router

#58

Post by [deleted] »

firefistace77 wrote: post #36

I'll take this opportunity to ask the community, what is a recommend router? It's going to be me and my roommate only (with friends and family over) and I would like to get something secure and also reliable (and preferably on the cheaper side) Any suggestions? I believe we have Cox if that is any factor....

[deleted]

Re: Security Begins at the Home Router

#59

Post by nextos »

firefistace77 wrote: post #36

I'll take this opportunity to ask the community, what is a recommend router? It's going to be me and my roommate only (with friends and family over) and I would like to get something secure and also reliable (and preferably on the cheaper side) Any suggestions? I believe we have Cox if that is any factor....

I'm using a Compulab Fitlet 2 (a really nice and cheap fanless Intel machine with multiple Ethernet ports designed for Linux) and NixOS.

It's easy to set up and run multiple services (think XMPP, ssh, IP over DNS...).

Re: Security Begins at the Home Router

#60

Post by mattnewton »

firefistace77 wrote: post #36

I'll take this opportunity to ask the community, what is a recommend router? It's going to be me and my roommate only (with friends and family over) and I would like to get something secure and also reliable (and preferably on the cheaper side) Any suggestions? I believe we have Cox if that is any factor....

I used to use Apple routers. They were pricey but reliable and very easy to configure, especially from inside the apple ecosystem. Now? I have no idea what I’ll upgrade to when the time comes.
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