Is my network actually at any risk? Should I take any steps now that I’m not receiving security updates? This was a really expensive router and I’m going back to school so I’m definitely not going to be in the market for a new one for quite a while. Probably wouldn’t be going back to tplink even if I did.
Thoughts?
Routers sometimes have security issues that need to be patched. You should keep an eye out for bulletins and make sure your endpoints have host-based security where they can (antivirus and firewalls).
This is a big fuck you from netgear though -why would you purchase another netgear router when they could just decide not to support the next model and force you to upgrade again for more money?
Huge fuck you to Netgear. One of the worst routers.
All of the mainstream router manufacturers have critically insecure firmware. Nearly all routers ship with hundreds of vulnerabilities, and sometimes even zero-days, even when initially released.
It’s why it is so important to find and acquire routers that are capable of being re-flashed with third-party firmware such as DD-WRT or OpenWRT.
Check with the router database of each project to see if what you currently own is eligible. DD-WRT enjoys wider support but is more limited in functionality. OpenWRT is more powerful but needs more capable hardware to run on.