Skynet Skynet - Router Firewall & Security Enhancements

[RMerlin]

I am someone who cares to seek to minimize privacy intrusion.

Just revoke your authorization on the Privacy tab, it will completely disable the Trend Micro components.

 

[RMerlin]

And so far as you know, all elements of AIProtection continue to function?

If you block access to the Web Reputation Service website, then malicious websites will no longer be detected/blocked.

 

[Treadler]

Data Collected:

• 
  
  
  • Product information, such as MAC address, device ID,
  • 1. **Public IP address of the user’s gateway to the Internet
  • Mobile/PC environment
  • Metadata from suspicious executable files
  • 2. **URLs, Domains and IP addresses of websites visited
  • Metadata of client/device managed by gateway product
  • Application behaviors
  • Customer behavior [See Hedwig]
  • Information from suspicious e-mail, including sender and receiver email address, and attachments
  • Detected malicious file information
  • Detected malicious network connection information
  • Debug Logs
  • Network Architecture/Topology
  • 3. **Screen capture of errors

According to: https://www.trendmicro.com/en_us/about/legal/privacy-policy-product.html the above information is collected ... does anyone know which AiProtection services I can switch off to stop the collected information I have highlighted? I know you guys have probably heard this a thousand times over, but I just feel a bit uncomfortable about these things being collected.

I don’t get too excited about all this, your ISP can probably see most, if not all of this.
As previously said, if you want real privacy, avoid the internet.......

 

[Skeptical.me]

If you block access to the Web Reputation Service website, then malicious websites will no longer be detected/blocked.

ahh, yeah, of course. Internet 101 lol

 

[Skeptical.me]

I don’t get too excited about all this, your ISP can probably see most, if not all of this.
As previously said, if you want real privacy, avoid the internet.......

True. I use ProtonVPN as our Government makes our ISP's log everything we do online for 2 years. I know that many people don't trust their ISP and VPN's equally, but I definitely trust ProtonVPN way more than Telstra and our Government.

 

[L&LD]

True. I use ProtonVPN as our Government makes our ISP's log everything we do online for 2 years. I know that many people don't trust their ISP and VPN's equally, but I definitely trust ProtonVPN way more than Telstra and our Government.

That's exactly how they want you to 'feel'.

There is no proof that paid-for VPN's are any safer or more private than not using them.

 

[Skeptical.me]

That's exactly how they want you to 'feel'.

There is no proof that paid-for VPN's are any safer or more private than not using them.

Well there’s no evidence that ProtonVPN/Mail wouldn’t stand by their policies, it would ruin their business. However, I concede none of us know. But at least the only meta-data being logged by my Government is that I'm connected to a VPN address. And it's not just the Government that has access to this meta-data, there are cases of local councils accessing it as well. Plus I use HULU, US Netflix, DirecTV Premier, CBS All Access, and every major US channel's Apple TV 4K apps so I need it for that reason too.

 

[Marin]

If you block access to the Web Reputation Service website, then malicious websites will no longer be detected/blocked.

Which of the links above is this?

This one?

wrs.trendmicro.com

 

[Skeptical.me]

Which of the links above is this?

This one?

wrs.trendmicro.com

I wonder if this is the address, and I wonder also if it logs (here comes the "if it logs don't use AiProtection then" comments lol)

 

[RMerlin]

Which of the links above is this?

This one?

wrs.trendmicro.com

Yes, that's at least one of them.

Sent from my P027 using Tapatalk

 

[cmkelley]

This is a classic Tragedy of the Commons ... everyone wants up to date threat information, but no-one wants to send their data to the people who rely on user data in order to provide the threat information.

 

[#TY]

Just revoke your authorization on the Privacy tab, it will completely disable the Trend Micro components.

While keeping the service on protecting your network?

 

[#TY]

This is a classic Tragedy of the Commons ... everyone wants up to date threat information, but no-one wants to send their data to the people who rely on user data in order to provide the threat information.

That's because it's been proven over and over that companies abuse that data for other purposes hence creating this distrust and in some cases paranoia. If the data was strictly used for what it is intended, I'm fairly certain more people would be using these services at ease.

 

[martinr]

.......I use Asus DDNS ......Just need to investigate other / better resources for DDNS.

But don’t cut your nose to spite your face: I’ve used Asus DDNS for 5 years or so without a single problem - from their end, anyway. The only tricky thing about it is transferring the address to another router, but then that adds to security, I suppose.
On reflection after the posts above, given the choice between Trend Micro knowing which websites I visited, and keeping the extra layer of AIProtection, I’m leaving everything as it is, with all modules enabled and nothing blacklisted. Nevertheless, since Skynet and Diversion, I rarely trigger AIProtection: last alert was early Feb, which is reassuring.

 

[CarlyElise]

Welcome to the forum.
No personal experience but I ran a quick Google search (in preference to a forum search) to get a feel for its reliability (search terms like: asus merlin RT-AX88U) and this thread popped up, which might be if interest:

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/asus-rt-ax88u-experiences-discussion.49427/

Certainly, you are right to ask before buying: some models seem to be considerably more reliable than others, or, a better way of putting it would be to say that one or 2 models do seem to have some quirky issues.

From personal experience I can say that, unless you need some top-of-the-range feature, the RT-AC68U is unlikely to cause you any (hardware) problems.

Thank you! I ended up returning the GT-AC5300 and went with the RT-AX88U and now have Merlin 384.11 Beta2 and Skynet. Everything is running seemingly stable. I have notice I’m getting only 250Mb as opposed to 800Mb a few days ago but that could be my connection at the moment. I am running an Arris SB8200 modem and am seeing high error counts so it is probably not related to router I’m guessing. I am much happier now that I can run alternative firmware’s and have some scripting capabilities. I had a difficult time getting the 5ghz wireless working but found a workaround to get both 2.4 and 5 operational.

 

[martinr]

Thank you! I ended up returning the GT-AC5300 and went with the RT-AX88U and now have Merlin 384.11 Beta2 and Skynet. Everything is running seemingly stable. I have notice I’m getting only 250Mb as opposed to 800Mb a few days ago but that could be my connection at the moment. I am running an Arris SB8200 modem and am seeing high error counts so it is probably not related to router I’m guessing. I am much happier now that I can run alternative firmware’s and have some scripting capabilities. I had a difficult time getting the 5ghz wireless working but found a workaround to get both 2.4 and 5 operational.

Well done. Did you carry out a reset to factory default settings after flashing with Merlin’s firmware? For future reference, in case you haven’t seen it yet, here is The Guide to the process. You should read the whole thread because there is valuable additional information later on in the topic.

Another useful link

 

[Mutzli]

That's because it's been proven over and over that companies abuse that data for other purposes hence creating this distrust and in some cases paranoia. If the data was strictly used for what it is intended, I'm fairly certain more people would be using these services at ease.

Because people expect apps and services to be free. Companies are no charities, they either will charge you for services or sell your data they collect to make some money. Unfortunately charging customer has become an impossible business model when other companies offer similar services for "free".

 

[martinr]

Because people expect apps and services to be free. Companies are no charities, they either will charge you for services or sell your data they collect to make some money. Unfortunately charging customer has become an impossible business model when other companies offer similar services for "free".

“If You're Not Paying For It, You Become The Product”

And I suspect even paying for it doesn’t guarantee you’re not the product.

 

[cmkelley]

“If You're Not Paying For It, You Become The Product”

And I suspect even paying for it doesn’t guarantee you’re not the product.

Well, no, not anymore at least. Once Pandora's box of selling the users' information has been opened, the bean counters at the top will require that money to be harvested. It isn't an either-or proposition.

 

[RMerlin]

While keeping the service on protecting your network?

You can't use a service if you refuse to send the data required to use that service...

"I'm visiting a website. I refuse to tell you what website that is. Can you tell me if that website is safe to visit?"

This is basically what you are asking for.