router

Home networking explained, part 6: Keep your network secure

Editors' note: This post is part of an ongoing series. For the other parts, check out the related stories section below.

If you were concerned after reading CNET's recent report that most home routers can be easily hacked, I don't blame you. The study did sound ominous, but the good news is that your network is likely far less susceptible than the report suggests. And more importantly, there are things you can do to make sure it's secure.

Two things are vital to keeping your network safe: proper settings and prudence. The first step is easy; you … Read more

Top Wi-Fi routers easy to hack, says study

The Wi-Fi router you use to broadcast a private wireless Internet signal in your home or office is not only easy to hack, says a report released today, but the best way to protect yourself is out of your hands.

The report, written by research firm Independent Security Evaluators of Baltimore, found that 13 of the most popular off-the-shelf wireless routers could be exploited by a "moderately skilled adversary with LAN or WLAN access." It also concludes that your best bet for safer Wi-Fi depends on router vendors upping their game. All 13 routers evaluated can be taken … Read more

CloudFlare security service goes down after router failure

Web security service CloudFlare was offline for about an hour this morning due to a systemwide failure of its edge routers.

The outage, which began around 1:47 a.m. PT, removed the security layer for 785,000 Web sites, including 4chan and Wikileaks, according to TechCrunch. CloudFlare said the outage occurred while it was trying to defend one of its customers from a distributed denial-of-service attack.

The outage affected Juniper routers running the Flowspec protocol, which allows customers to broadcast router rules to a large number of routers efficiently. CloudFlare uses the protocol to update the rules on routers … Read more

Trendnet's first 802.11ac router now shipping

Power users now have another option for their home Wi-Fi networks.

Trendnet announced today the availability of the AC1750 Dual Band Wireless Router (model TEW-812DRU). This router was first showcased at CES 2013 and is the first from Trendnet to support the new 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard.

The TEW-812DRU router is a true dual-band router that offers a maximum wireless speed of up to 450Mbps on the 2.4GHz frequency band, while at the same time offering up to 1,300Mbps speed on the 5GHz band. To take advantage of the new and much faster speed, the wireless clients also … Read more

I'm Dong Ngo, and these are my personal Wi-Fi routers

Being the person in charge of the Networking category, I've received many e-mails asking what my current personal router is, and how often I change it.

Even though I've worked with many routers -- in fact, I have reviewed most of the existing Wi-Fi routers on the U.S. market -- I don't change my home router very often. This is mostly because programing a router can be a tedious task, and I use a lot of different applications and services with many clients, all of which require different settings in the router's firmware.

That said, since the Wireless-N (802.11n) standard was introduced in 2007, I've used just about five Wi-Fi routers. Most of them them have served me very well over the years and I still have them all, except for one that was broken during a move.

The following is the list of those routers and how they've worked out for me.… Read more

Create wireless networks and share Internet connections Virtual WiFi Router

If you access the Internet via Wi-Fi at home, work, or school, it's almost always through a Wi-Fi router. Almost -- because you can turn any Wi-Fi-capable Windows 7 PC into a virtual Wi-Fi router that can share Internet connections and create wireless networks. The capability is built into Windows 7 (and some earlier releases), but it's not easy to enable. Virtual Wi-Fi Router's simple GUI and user-friendly controls make it easy to turn your Wi-Fi-equipped PC or laptop into a wireless hub. Your laptop can be a mobile Wi-Fi router you can use in the car, … Read more

UPnP networking flaw puts millions of PCs at risk

Common bugs in networking systems are placing PCs, printers and storage devices at risk, according to security researchers.

According to the security team at Rapid7, technology used worldwide in both routers and standard networking equipment is making it possible for hackers to potentially infiltrate approximately 40 million to 50 million devices worldwide.

The vulnerability lies in the standard known as Universal Plug and Play (UPnP). This standard set of networking protocols allows devices such as PCs, printers and Wi-Fi access points to communicate and discover each other's presence. After discovery, devices can be connected through a network in order … Read more

Amped Wireless' 802.11ac router, the RTA15, is so amped!

LAS VEGAS--Amped Wireless, maker of extra-long-range, high-power Wi-Fi products, showed off at CES 2013 the upcoming RTA15 High Power Dual Band AC 700mW Wi-Fi Router, the company's first that supports the new 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard.

Like previous routers from Amped Wireless, such as the 600mW Gigabit Dual Band R20000G, the new RTA15 promises to offer incredible Wi-Fi coverage.

According to Amped Wireless, the new router features three high-gain, dual-band antennas and 10 total power amplifiers: four 5GHz 700mW, two-stage amplifiers, two 2.4GHz amplifiers, and four low-noise amplifiers. As the result, Amped Wireless claims it can cover up … Read more

Netgear D6200: First DSL combo router with 802.11ac support

LAS VEGAS--If you're tired of the router-modem combo device provided by your ISP, here's an alternative.

Netgear today unveiled at CES 2013 the first 802.11ac router in the States that also has a built-in ADSL2+ modem, the Netgear D6200 Wi-Fi DSL Modem Router. This router can be used directly with a DSL service without the need for a separate modem.

Personally, I generally am not a fan of combo devices, especially those provided by your ISP, but mostly because their router portion tends to be inferior to most existing routers on the market. The Netgear D6200 is … Read more