• How to use your router to block smart TV snooping

    Posted on August 2, 2018 by pcwrt in How To, Router, Security.

    Today’s smart TVs collect a lot of information about you beyond your knowledge, sometimes without your consent. Last year, Vizio was fined $2.2 million for collecting user data wihout properly informing consumers. From FTC official statement: VIZIO smart TVs … capture second-by-second information about video displayed on the smart TV, including video from consumer cable, […]

    No Comments.
    Continue Reading...
  • Turn off WiFi router automatically at night

    Posted on July 22, 2018 by pcwrt in Router, WiFi.

    There are many reasons you want to switch off your WiFi at night. Some people worry about the prolonged exposure to EMF radiation during their sleeping hours. Others are concerned about the security risks of keeping it on all time. Still others believe that turning off your router at night extends its lifespan. After all, […]

    No Comments.
    Continue Reading...
  • Fake one-star reviews on Amazon for the pcWRT router

    Posted on July 7, 2018 by pcwrt in News, Router.

    For quite some time we were puzzled by the one-star reviews that were left on Amazon for our product. These were “Verified Purchase” reviews. Supposedly the customers purchased our product, were dissatisfied, then left a negative review. Strange enough, none of these customers reached out to us for support when they encountered problems. They just […]

    No Comments.
    Continue Reading...
  • Spam email from legitimate business email servers

    Posted on July 7, 2018 by pcwrt in Security, Technology.

    There’s a new trick to send spam: using legitimate business email services. Just a few days ago, I received an email from Honeywell. It was spam. I checked the sender address and the sending domain. It seemed to be sent from Honeywell indeed. So I wondered why Honeywell would spam me with something that’s completely […]

    No Comments.
    Continue Reading...
  • Beyond Three Dumb Routers

    Posted on June 20, 2018 by pcwrt in Router, Security, Technology.

    To mitigate the risks of IoT devices on your home network, Steve Gibson, the creator of ShieldsUP!, proposed a “Three Dumb Router” configuration to isolate the insecure IoT devices from your normal LAN, where the more valuable and more secure devices such as PCs and NAS storage reside. Since the devices stay in their own […]

    No Comments.
    Continue Reading...
  • How to get rid of VPNFilter malware (even though you don’t know if your router is infected)

    Posted on June 6, 2018 by pcwrt in Router, Security, Technology.

    Ars Technica reported today that the VPNFilter malware targets a much larger number of devices than previously thought (200,000 additional routers were added to the initial estimate of 500,000). And it is more powerful than revealed in original analysis. VPNFilter’s elaborate design involves three stages. Stage 1 acts as a backdoor that uses a sophisticated […]

    No Comments.
    Continue Reading...
  • Can Alexa be used to spy?

    Posted on June 5, 2018 by pcwrt in Security, Technology.

    On May 24, 2018, Portland, Oregon local TV station Kiro 7 reported that an Amazon Alexa device recorded a private conversation, then sent it out to a random contact. Amazon confirmed the incident, and attributed it to an “unlikely” string of events that caused Alexa to mistakingly interpret background sounds as commands. In other words, […]

    No Comments.
    Continue Reading...
  • Put IoT devices on guest network

    Posted on June 3, 2018 by pcwrt in Security, Technology.

    IoT devices are known to be vulnerable to cyber attacks. The best known instance of such an attack is probably the Mirai botnet. The botnet infected numerous IoT devices (such as home routers and IP security cameras) and used them to perform a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack. It brought down major web sites […]

    No Comments.
    Continue Reading...
  • Who is connected to my WiFi router?

    Posted on January 20, 2018 by pcwrt in Router, WiFi.

    Are you worried that someone is connecting to your WiFi router without your permission? Well, if you are securing your WiFi with WPA2-AES (CCMP) encryption and a fairly strong password, you should be confident that no one is able to connect to your WiFi without knowing your password. Not even with the most recent KRACK […]

    No Comments.
    Continue Reading...
  • 4 Tests You Should Do on Your WiFi Router to Avoid Hacking

    Posted on January 19, 2018 by pcwrt in Router, Security, WiFi.

    In a previous post, I talked about how to secure your router WiFi. That’s only half of the puzzle. Another type of attack on your router comes directly from the Internet, without the need to connect to your WiFi signal. Due to the various security flaws on the home WiFi router, and the fact that […]

    No Comments.
    Continue Reading...