I stumbled across this article after dinner tonight...

[n2ubp]

https://ctrl.blog/entry/review-asuswrt

Some interesting thoughts on Trend Micro imbedded in asuswrt

 

[bbunge]

I don't feel that the author of the article told us anything we already didn't know. I'm sure that some who read it will shy away from Asus products as the author recommends. As for me it is a conscience decision to trust Trend Micro with the security features provided with my Asus router. Sure is a lot better than my WRT54G that had nothing or my prior Netgear dual band router that also had no protection other than a firewall. My wife is a careful surfer but from time to time she trips the Malicious Site Blocking feature of the Asus router. Safe! I do agree that it would be great to have an auto update feature for firmware and Trend Micro signatures. But as for me and my family, we'll stick with Asus!

 

[pete y testing]

i suspect its like the first router this blogger has so called reviewed and is also a bit paranoid

its clear he hasnt seen many other manufactures gui and apps in comparison

 

[RMerlin]

I've had at least 6 different persons poke at me on this so-called review in the past 24 hours over Twitter/Emails/Github/IRC/smoke signals/tam-tams. Getting tired of hearing about it personally. Not sure why that article made the rounds like this. Lots of FUD, little technical evidence.

He is also basing his claims on the EULA, with zero proof to support his conclusions. Just because a EULA for a platform states a series of rights doesn't mean that every single feature that's based on that platform is using these rights everywhere they can. A EULA is a user agreement, it's not a technical fact. Just because your employer's contract provides a clause for terminating your employment doesn't mean they're going to use it.

Only Asus would know the technical details, but my personal gut feeling is that only the Web Reputation Service will leverage the cloud. There's no reason for Adaptive QoS to do so (it uses the signature files that are downloaded locally on your router), nor the Website History (which is just a local buffer, and gets flushed as soon you reboot your router). And unlike what he wrote, Traditional QoS has NOT been removed from the firmware.

For me, that's the last time I'll comment on this article. If people have doubts or any question, they should contact Asus about them, or get Wireshark set up and do some actual traffic analysis of their own. I don't have any additional technical info to provide, but I can point out that neither did the author either.

 

[MichaelCG]

Some of the concerns raised are "somewhat" valid, however it really appears the author doesn't fully understand the technical reasons behind them nor fully understands the real vs perceived risks. I completely agree that some of the vulnerabilities that continue to pop up should be found sooner...but this is not an ASUS problem...but more of an industry problem. Same for the complaints against the interface.

It would be interesting to see how they would have rated it when compared to other similar vendors/products. Almost all consumer devices suffer from roughly the same issues. A blanket "do not recommend" is extremely short sighted and clearly shows the author has not been exposed to wide ranging products available along with their various issues.

 

[Robaye]

Here's a somewhat of a paranoid so called review IMO on the so called review referred to above.
http://www.computerworld.com/articl...-router-warnings-on-privacy-and-security.html

 

[n2ubp]

I've had at least 6 different persons poke at me on this so-called review in the past 24 hours over Twitter/Emails/Github/IRC/smoke signals/tam-tams. Getting tired of hearing about it personally. Not sure why that article made the rounds like this. Lots of FUD, little technical evidence.

It was carried by quite a few mainstream "Tech" sites.

 

[RMerlin]

It was carried by quite a few mainstream "Tech" sites.

Blogging is the death of professional, researched journalism.

Sent from my Nexus 9 using Tapatalk

 

[n2ubp]

I suspect Merlin was poked about this article so many times because you are what many including myself consider a Subject Matter Expert on Asus firmware. It means your opinion is well respected by the community.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Blogging is the death of professional, researched journalism.

Indeed.

But perhaps some of the blame should be directed at those reading/believing/repeating the blogs rather than writing it. This guy makes no claims to being a professional (in fact he says he's not), as such his opinions are just that, nothing more than opinions.

Anyone can setup a website and call themselves a reviewer. That doesn't mean they should have any credibility. My cat has a website, would you trust my cat's opinion?

You know what they say; "Opinions are like @rseholes, everybody has one."

 

[sfx2000]

In this day of fake news and astroturfing, along with how easy it is to set up a blog or social media even, it's kind of a common thing..

The first response, esp. with anyone with any investment in a platform, is typically an emotional one - it's a natural thing, we're human, and that's how we're wired through thousands of years of evolution.

The logical response takes a lot longer...

Has anyone actually sat down with the factory firmware and gone through the bullet points that the "reviewer" made?

The author there - might have a bias there as well - we don't know.

Some points might be valid, some likely are not... some might have already been fixed in either the factory beta releases or 3rd party builds.

Pick the review apart - be logical..

 

[pete y testing]

Pick the review apart - be logical..

someone already has

http://www.computerworld.com/articl...-router-warnings-on-privacy-and-security.html

 

[ColinTaylor]

someone already has

Except they haven't. In his "Opinion" piece he has just accepted as fact everything the other blogger said without question. So no actual investigation there then, just repetition.

 

[sfx2000]

someone already has

http://www.computerworld.com/articl...-router-warnings-on-privacy-and-security.html

Erm - no... just repeating...

Perhaps someone here can pick it apart - logically, rationally...

 

[sfx2000]

Perhaps someone here can pick it apart - logically, rationally...

And while folks are going to rage on and pick apart - while I asked them to not do this...

I'll just chill out...

BTW - if folks haven't got my point by now - just enjoy the pics...