"Espressif Inc" shows up as connected device on my Asus router

[jbaugh]

Tonight I noticed a strange entry in the list of clients on my Asus router. I've never seen this before and I'm worried if it is a security risk. The client's name is listed as "Espressif Inc". The only thing I've done differently recently is to enable the AiProtection feature on my router. Could this be related? Do I need to be worried or take some action? What action? Thanks.
John

 

[roadwrenchtech]

I've noticed the client list can be a bit clunky on Asus routers. I would suggest wifiman or fing android app for your phone. Easy to run a network scan and see what all is connected at any time and some info about it. Seems like the name you found is common in smart plugs and other simple devices using wifi.

 

[sfx2000]

Espressif Inc is a WiFi module that you see in many Smart devices for IOT -- SmartHome stuff...

They're actually cool little devices, google ESP32/ESP8266

https://www.espressif.com/en/products/hardware/esp8266ex/overview

https://www.espressif.com/en/products/hardware/esp32/overview

I find them kinda fun to play with at a chip level - one of the more open ones

 

[jbaugh]

I've noticed the client list can be a bit clunky on Asus routers. I would suggest wifiman or fing android app for your phone. Easy to run a network scan and see what all is connected at any time and some info about it. Seems like the name you found is common in smart plugs and other simple devices using wifi.

Thanks for the info. I'm going to give wifiman a try and see what I come up with.

 

[Johnny Bahls]

Posting this in case someone finds it with a similar issue... "ESPRESSIF, INC" in my case was the hostname for the wifi connect module for the Litter Robot. So if you have a Litter Robot - and noticed "espressif inc" on your network, that's what it is. If you don't have a Litter Robot - then obviously it is something else!

 

[stansoltz]

FYI, I was in the same boat... turns out my "Espressif" device was a "Smart Life Outdoor Wifi Plug"

 

[distilled]

It will be any one of many devices with an 8266 chip. Even after flashing them with Tasmota firmware, they still show up as manufacturer Expressif and hostname tasmota-xxxx.

This is off topic, but if you have such devices that use the Tuya or SmartLife app, you owe it to yourself to Google a few open source projects:

Tasmota
Tuya-convert
Tasmota Device Admin
TasUI
TasmoAdmin (if you use Home Assistant)
Black addr template repo

You can get your devices out of the cloud while increasing the degree of control that you have over them.