JFFS Format

[Tech9]

For me learning is fun.

Learning is fun. Doing before you learn is not. What you have done so far is sharing your "privacy" with your ISP, then with VPN provider and with DNS services provider. They all know what your bank is, what your healthcare provider is, what your insurance company is... plus how often you login.

 

[Piotrek]

However in those instances where I want privacy for such digital uses as my banking/finance accounts, insurances accounts, health care network provider accounts I'll pay for the VPN client service, and try to maximize my LAN's security/privacy to protect myself.

If you live in a free, democratic country services like NordVPN don't really provide any additional security in a home environment.

When I documented the issue through the companies channels the company mentioned that they had implemented security which they felt caused the problem.

Congratulations. You just lowered your security and made it easy for your account to be hacked.

 

[GoldWing]

Learning is fun. Doing before you learn is not. What you have done so far is sharing your "privacy" with your ISP, then with VPN provider and with DNS services provider. They all know what your bank is, what your healthcare provider is, what your insurance company is... plus how often you login.

I don't want to get into a debate. You are entitled to your opinion.

Thank You!

GoldWing

 

[GoldWing]

Congratulations. You just lowered your security and made it easy for your account to be hacked.

The suggestion to use a VPN was provided from a credible professional source years ago. You are entitled to your opinion.

Thank You!

GoldWing

 

[Piotrek]

to use a VPN

A VPN makes sense when you're using a public network, WiFi on the travel, hotel, restaurant, etc. Not at home. Read for example:

Router Security

Router Security Home Page

routersecurity.org

You are entitled to your opinion.

 

[Tech9]

You are entitled to your opinion.

Every month we have someone chasing "privacy" ideas and hurting himself in the process. Don't copy/paste someone else's settings and don't follow blindly instructions. You want to learn how things work first. Otherwise you're making Internet experience worse and paying extra on top. Your choice.

 

[ColinTaylor]

The suggestion to use a VPN was provided from a credible professional source years ago.

VPNs only provide an extra layer of security if you control both the client and the server ends (this is what VPNs were intended for - think office to office). If you're using a commercial VPN service (like NordVPN) all you're doing is encrypting the link between your router and the VPN provider. After that the traffic traverses the internet to its destination just like before. So this is useful if you want to hide your internet activity from your ISP or want to obfuscate your IP address to the destination server. Other than that it makes no difference, other than now you're placing your trust in your VPN provider rather than your ISP.

 

[Tech9]

I would suggest to @GoldWing running VPN Server at home and connecting to it when travelling or when more privacy/security is needed. This VPN turns own ISP connection into Internet exit point and can use DNS filtering services like popular Cloudflare, Quad9, OpenDNS, etc. plus available AiProtection on Asus routers - the way home network is protected for mobile devices outside home. This is free and has more real benefits.

 

[GoldWing]

.... If you're using a commercial VPN service (like NordVPN) all you're doing is encrypting the link between your router and the VPN provider. After that the traffic traverses the internet to its destination just like before. So this is useful if you want to hide your internet activity from your ISP or want to obfuscate your IP address to the destination server. Other than that it makes no difference, other than now you're placing your trust in your VPN provider rather than your ISP.

Agree!

Thank You!

GoldWing

 

[GoldWing]

If you want to create backup of your router's config once you've done your initial setup, so that you can restore back to that point, I would:

...

If you need to return to this point in time perform a hard (WPS) reset. Do the bear minimum setup that allows you to log in to the router. Go to Administration - Restore/Save/Upload Setting and restore your settings file. The router will reboot. Log in again and now restore the JFFS partition. Reboot immediately. That's it.

Unless I'm missing something which I don't believe that I have works great!

Thank You!

GoldWing

 

[GoldWing]

I do recall reading a pretty eye opening thread in SnBForums which IIRC was dated a while back that I found searching for info which questioned the hardware and software used by the OEM's selling routers into the retail / home user market in regard to the product's security which also included some input by RMerlin and a spreadsheet that tracked the components of the different OEM's.

The "eye opening thread" is here. I ran across this recently, and thought that I'd post it in response to my own recollection. The thread is 4 years old, so not sure how relevant the subject of the thread applies to more current routers.

Regards,

GoldWing