The 5 Best Wireless Routers of 2017

The days of the top wireless routers being limited to single, 2.4GHz bands are behind us, with dual- and tri-band routers featuring a 5GHz connection or two now on the rise. Plus, mesh routers like Google Wifi have ousted range extenders practically everywhere. Google leading the charge, competing companies have followed suit with their own hubs. With so many routers – both traditional and trendsetting – to choose from, we’ve gone hands-on with a wide range to find only the 10 best wireless routers below.

1. Google Wifi - The future of wireless networking gets affordable

Speed: 802.11ac 5GHz down: 101.41 Mbps, 2.4GHz down: 47.53 Mbps | Connectivity: 2 x Gigabit Ethernet ports per Wifi point (1 WAN and 1 LAN port each) | Features: AC1200 2 x 2 Wave 2 Wi-Fi, TX beamforming, Bluetooth Smart ready

Pros: Super simple setup / Great value Cons: Limited hardware control / Lower AC rating

Gone is the seemingly distant past where we had to purchase Wi-Fi extenders in addition to our wireless routers for installation throughout the house. Wireless mesh systems are the future, and Google Wifi only reassures us of this. It’s as easy to set up as scanning a QR code on the cylindrical unit and subsequently configuring the network name and password. Sure, it requires that you buy a trio of units just to use it to its full potential, but the design of the hardware – and even the software – more than outweighs any negatives.

You can pick up a single Google WiFi point on Amazon for $111.

2. Netgear Orbi - Wireless coverage that’s high-end, almost to a fault

Speed: 802.11ac 5GHz down: 90.14 Mbps, 2.4GHz down: 93.69 Mbps | Connectivity: 4 x 10/100/1000Mbps Gigabit Ethernet ports (1 WAN + 3 LAN for Router, 4 LAN for Satellite), 1 x USB 2.0 port | Features: 4GB flash memory, 512MB RAM, AC3000, MU-MIMO ready

Pros: Excellent coverage / Easy setup Cons: Expensive / Finicky Wi-Fi band settings

Unlike Google Wi-Fi, this wireless mesh system ships with two units rather than three: a router and a satellite, much like a cell phone signal booster. It’s expensive, but once you get past the price, you’ll see why the Netgear Orbi costs so much to begin with. Simply plug the router into a spare outlet as well as into your modem with an Ethernet cable. Next, connect the satellite to an outlet and you’re halfway there. Using the handy Sync button found on each block, the two bricks will start interacting. Then set your password and SSID in a web browser. It’s that easy.

Neargear's Orbi Home WiFi System is $149 on Amazon.

3. Starry Station - Wi-Fi made easy (and attractive)

Speed: 802.11ac: 1,300Mbps 802.11n: 450Mbps | Connectivity: 2 x Gigabit LAN port | Features: Dual-band Wi-Fi technology, 3.8-inch LCD touchscreen, embedded speaker/microphone

Pros: Elegant, simple interface / Touchscreen offers info and control Cons: May need to rewire source / Gets noticeably loud

Instead of chasing after the fastest speeds and longest range, the Starry Station is all about two things: convenience and aesthetic. The triangular design and curious LCD display make the Starry Station a welcome addition to your home whether it’s sitting atop your desk or on a coffee table in your living room. Sure, it’s expensive considering its performance, but what the Starry Station lacks it more than makes up for in style and ease-of-use.

The Starry Station touchscreen WiFi system is $295 on Amazon.

4. Synology RT2600ac - NAS or router – why not both?

Speed: 802.11ac: 1,733Mbps 802.11n: 800Mbps | Connectivity: 4 x Gigabit WAN, 1 x USB 2.0, 1 x USB 3.0, 1 x SD card reader | Features: 512MB RAM, 1.7GHz dual-core ARM Qualcomm IPQ8065 processor, MU-MIMO, beam-forming, 4GB flash storage

Pros: Easy-to-use web interface / Great hardware extras Cons: Pricier than other AC2600 routers / Not the fastest 802.11ac router

The lovechild of a traditional wireless router and a network-attached storage device (NAS), the Synology RT2600ac doesn’t boast the fastest specs or even an attractive shell, but it packs a ton of features that make it worth your while. Though it only has 4GB of storage built-in, you can connect a hard drive and configure your own cloud service similar to Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive. You can even download NAS-grade apps like a VPN client and server. Unfortunately, the app selection is sparse as a result of the barren community support.

Pick up this Synology NAS/Router for $229 on Amazon.

5. Linksys WRT 3200 ACM - Kickin’ it old school (and open-source)

Speed: 802.11ac: 3x 867 Mbps, 802.11n: 600 Mbps | Connectivity: 4x Gigabit Ethernet, 1x USB 3.0, 1 x ESATA/USB 2.0 | Features: Tri-Stream 160, 1.8GHz dual core CPU, 512MB RAM, 256MB flash memory

Pros: Open source firmware support / Great features Cons: Coverage sometimes spotty / More suitable for an office than home

Effectively the antithesis to a wireless mesh like Google Wifi or the Netgear Orbi, the Linksys WRT 3200 ACM has an unflattering design that it’s damn proud of. Unlike systems that are stylish but limited when it comes to personalization, the Linksys WRT 3200 ACM gives you unadulterated control over your wireless network connections. Whether you want to toggle on and off guest connections, prioritize media devices, initiate parental controls or access the OpenVPN server, all the functionality you would expect from a router of this price is there.

The WRT 3200 is currently $208 on Amazon.

5 Car Gadgets that will Improve Your Driving Experience

Getting stranded with a dead car battery or being caught off guard by a flat tire is not only stressful, it's potentially dangerous. Fortunately, there are a number of gadgets on the market today that can help you be better prepared for whatever the road throws at you.

Here are 5 car gadgets that will not only improve your overall driving experience, but will also help you be ready for the unexpected.

Dashcam

Dashcams can be used to not only shoot a memorable drive, but can also come in handy if you get into an accident.

The forward facing camera won't protect you physically, but the footage it captures can be used to prove who is responsible for an car crash.

The Z-Edge dashcam can shoot 30 frames per second and will switch on automatically when you turn on your car and shut off once you switch the ignition off.

You can buy the Z-Edge dashcam for $99 on Amazon.

Smart Car Adapter

Automatic is a small car adapter that you plug into the on-board diagnostics port of your car to get all kinds of data about your vehicle.

The device — which pairs with your phone via Bluetooth — diagnoses engine problems, remembers where you parked, displays your trip history, and can even call for help in the case of an accident.

There's also an Automatic app gallery, which features apps for business, convenience, and savings, and safety. For example, the Concur app lets drivers track mileage for work trips, making expenses extremely easy.

You can also connect the device to your Amazon Echo so that you can do things like ask Alexa how much fuel you have or how much you drove last week.

The device, which works with most cars that were built since 1996, is available on Amazon for $72.

A Heads-Up Display

A number of new luxury vehicles are coming equipped with heads-up displays these days. These displays are usually on the windshield of a vehicle and show the driver information about their route, like the speed limit or navigation information.

But you don't have to buy a new car to get the technology in your car.

Navdy is an after-market gadget that can be installed in just about any vehicle to give it a heads-up display. The device can be attached to the dashboard so that you can view directions directly in front of you while driving. And because the Navdy connects with your smartphone via Bluetooth, it can also read texts aloud and let you view and accept calls with a simple gesture.

You can purchase the device on Navdy's website for $499.

Tire Pressure Monitoring System

A tire pressure monitoring system lets you easily keep tabs on the health of your tires.

Carchet's monitoring system measures both the temperature and the pressure of the tires. It comes with four sensors that attach to each tire and a monitoring display that plugs into your vehicle's cigarette lighter. The display shows the pressure of each tire so that you can easily detect when something is wrong.

Cachet's tire pressure monitoring system is available on Amazon for $69.99.

Bluetooth Car Kit

You don't have to buy a new car to be able to connect your smartphone to your vehicle via Bluetooth.

The Mpow Bluetooth receiver plugs into your car so that you can play music and make calls over your car's speakers hands-free.

You can purchase the gadget for $15.99 on Amazon.

Ransomware Shuts Down 1 in 5 Small Businesses After it Hits

Ransomware hit one third of small-to-medium businesses worldwide last year, and experts say the "human factor" was often to blame.

When it comes to ransomware, it only takes one person to cripple the kingdom.

That's the assessment of cybersecurity company Malwarebytes, which has found as many as one third of small-to-medium-sized businesses were hit by ransomware last year, and that "the human factor" is increasingly behind large-scale outages.

The findings come as part of Malwarebytes' Second Annual State of Ransomware Report, which showed that, of the 32 percent of companies hit by at least one malware attack last year, one fifth had to completely stop operations immediately. Do not pass go, do not collect $200 (unless you're coughing it up in Bitcoin).

The figures paint a grim picture of digital security in the modern era, at a time when malware attacks routinely make news headlines, and ransomware (malicious software that infects systems and demands a ransom to regain access to encrypted files) has the power to bring everything from home computers to the world's biggest companies into the digital dark ages.

A quarter of businesses experienced more than 20 ransomware attacks in 2016, and in many cases, Australian and British businesses were the worst culprits.

Australian figures released yesterday [PDF] show 31 percent of Aussie businesses didn't know how they were attacked (compared to 9 percent in the US) [PDF]. Forty-six percent of Australian companies and 43 percent of British companies paid the ransom (compared to 21 percent in the US). And even after paying, 40 percent of Australian and 46 percent of British businesses still lost their files (US: 32 percent).

According to Malwarebytes Senior Systems Engineer Brett Callaughan, ransomware is a massive cybersecurity problem, but it often comes down to poor human behaviour, rather than poor security software.

"People [behind the ransomware attacks] are going to more of the human factor now," he said.

"A lot more attackers are becoming aware of the fact that they can make small amounts of money at a grand scale very quickly if they completely automate this. The attackers we're seeing are extremely sophisticated -- they're not fussed about creating a file and making something look real.

"They'll just go after the user and they'll spray and pray. If you hit 100,000 email accounts and 10,000 hit the button and you're charging $200 a piece? That's a significant amount of income right there from doing very little."

If in doubt, do not click -- lest you be the one that knocks everything offline.

175,000 iDoorbell Chinese Internet Connected security cameras can be easily hacked

An estimated 175,000 Internet of Things (IoT) connected security cameras manufactured by Shenzhen Neo Electronics are vulnerable to cyber attacks. According to a new report from security provider Bitdefender, roughly 175,000 connected security cameras are vulnerable to cyber attacks.

The vulnerable cameras are manufactured by the Chinese company Shenzhen Neo Electronics that offers surveillance and security solutions, including IP cameras, sensors and alarms.

The experts discovered several buffer overflow vulnerabilities in two models of cameras manufactured by the company, the iDoorbell and the NIP-22 models.

The researchers believe that other models commercialized by the Chinese company are vulnerable because they use the same firmware.

“Several buffer overflow vulnerabilities (some before authentication) are present in the two cameras studied, the iDoorbell model and NIP-22 model, but we suspect that all cameras sold by the company use the same software and are thus vulnerable.” reads the report published by BitDefender. “These vulnerabilities could allow, under certain conditions, remote code execution on the device. This type of vulnerabilities is also present on the gateway which controls the sensors and alarms.”

The security cameras use UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) to automatically open ports in the router’s firewall to allow the access from the Internet. Querying the Shodan search engine for vulnerable devices the researchers discovered between 100,000 and 140,000 vulnerable devices worldwide.

“Internet. We found between 100,000 and 140,000 devices when searching for the HTTP web server, and a similar number when searching for the RTSP server (both vulnerable). These are not necessarily the same devices, as some have only one service forwarded. We estimate that the real number of unique devices is around 175,000.” continues the report.

The experts noticed that both security camera models are vulnerable to two different cyber attacks, one that affects the web server service running on cameras and another that affects the RSTP (Real Time Streaming Protocol) server.

Researchers demomstrated that was quite easy to exploit the flaws in the security cameras, anyone can hack access the livestream by simply logging in with default credentials (i.e. “user,” “user,” and “guest,” “guest”).

The researchers also discovered a buffer overflow vulnerability that could be exploited to take control of the cameras remotely.

Shenzhen Neo did not comment the discovery.

July 2017 CERT Cyber Vulnerabilities

Each month, Nebula Consulting posts vulnerability notes from CERT’s vulnerability database. Check back often for updates! 18 Jul 2017 - VU#547255 - Dahua IP cameras Sonia web interface is vulnerable to stack buffer overflow

Dahua IP camera products include an application known as Sonia (/usr/bin/sonia) that provides the web interface and other services for controlling the IP camera remotely.

Versions of Sonia included in firmware versions prior to DH_IPC-Consumer-Zi-Themis_Eng_P_V2.408.0000.11.R.20170621 do not validate input data length for the 'password' field of the web interface. A remote, unauthenticated attacker may submit a crafted POST request to the IP camera's Sonia web interface that may lead to out-of-bounds memory operations and loss of availability or remote code execution.

A remote, unauthenticated attacker may submit a crafted POST request to the IP camera's Sonia web interface that may lead to out-of-bounds memory operations and loss of availability or remote code execution.

Solution: Apply Update. Dahua has released firmware version DH_IPC-ACK-Themis_Eng_P_V2.400.0000.14.R.20170713.bin to address this issue. All affected users should update their firmware as soon as possible. If you have any questions, you may contact cybersecurity@dahuatech.com.

20 Jul 2017 - VU#586501 - Inmarsat AmosConnect8 Mail Client Vulnerable to SQL Injection and Backdoor Account

Inmarsat Solutions offers a shipboard email client service, AmosConnect 8 (AC8), which was designed to be utilized over satellite networks in a highly optimized manner. A third-party security research firm has identified two security vulnerabilities in the client software: On-board ship network access could provide visibility of user names and passwords configured on the client device. A backdoor account has been identified in the client that provides full system privileges. This vulnerability could be exploited remotely. An attacker with high skill would be able to exploit this vulnerability. AmosConnect 8 has been deemed end of life, and no longer supported. Inmarsat customers must contact Inmarsat Customer Service to obtain the replacement mail client software.

Unauthenticated attackers having network access to the AmosConnect Server can exploit a Blind SQL Injection vulnerability in the login form to gain access to credentials stored in its internal database, containing user names and passwords.

Successful exploitation of this vulnerability may allow a remote attacker to access or influence AmosConnect 8 email databases on computers that are installed onboard ships.

Solution: Delete Software. As of July 2017, support for The Inmarsat AmosConnect8 service has been decommissioned and clients will no longer be able to download the software from the software distribution website. Customers can contact Inmarsat Customer Service to obtain further information/updates for the replacement email client.

25 Jul 2017 - VU#838200 - Telerik Web UI contains cryptographic weakness

The Telerik Web UI, versions R2 2017 (2017.2.503) and prior, is vulnerable to a cryptographic weakness which an attacker can exploit to extract encryption keys.

The Telerik.Web.UI.dll is vulnerable to a cryptographic weakness which allows the attacker to extract the  Telerik.Web.UI.DialogParametersEncryptionKey and/or the MachineKey. Versions R2 2017 (2017.2.503) and prior are vulnerable.

A remote, unauthenticated attacker could perform arbitrary file upload and downloads, cross-site scripting attacks, leak the MachineKey, or compromise the ASP.NET ViewState. Software vendors who use Telerik web components may also be impacted.

Solution: Apply an update. Please see the Telerik's support article for update information for specific versions.

27 Jul 2017 - VU#793496 - Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) protocol implementations may improperly determine LSA recency

Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) protocol implementations may improperly determine Link State Advertisement (LSA) recency for LSAs with MaxSequenceNumber. Attackers with the ability to transmit messages from a routing domain router may send specially crafted OSPF messages to poison routing tables within the domain.

Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) protocol implementations may improperly determine Link State Advertisement (LSA) recency with MaxSequenceNumber. According to RFC 2328 section 13.1, for two instances of the same LSA, recency is determined by first comparing sequence numbers, then checksums, and finally MaxAge. In a case where the sequence numbers are the same, the LSA with the larger checksum is considered more recent, and will not be flushed from the Link State Database (LSDB). Since the RFC does not explicitly state that the values of links carried by a LSA must be the same when prematurely aging a self-originating LSA with MaxSequenceNumber, it is possible in vulnerable OSPF implementations for an attacker to craft a LSA with MaxSequenceNumber and invalid links that will result in a larger checksum and thus a 'newer' LSA that will not be flushed from the LSDB. Propagation of the crafted LSA can result in the erasure or alteration of the routing tables of routers within the routing domain, creating a denial of service condition or the re-routing of traffic on the network.

Attackers with the ability to transmit messages from a routing domain router may send specially crafted OSPF messages to erase or alter the routing tables of routers within the domain, resulting in denial of service or the re-routing of traffic on the network.

Solution: Install updates. The OSPF protocol is a popular interior routing protocol that is used by many devices and manufacturers. This vulnerability is implementation-specific, so some vendors may not be affected. The Vendor Information section below contains known affected or non-affected vendors. Please consult your network equipment vendor to confirm how they are affected by this vulnerability