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Best router to deter hackers?

J

joojooyoufather

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 1, 2009
30
0
Hi,

My mac has been hacked into and I really need to get a better router. Can anyone recommend anything. I suppose it must have some sort of wpa2-aes encryptation etc. I've looked at a netgear model but are there any really good ones? Thanks. And also I don't need a wireless connection. I just want the safest option possible.
 
1. How do you know that its been 'hacked into'. Could you be more specific? Did someone get on your current router with another computer and log in to yours or was this done over the internet?

2. Is your firewall on?

I like Belkin because they have (I guess they still do???) a lifetime warranty on their routers. I'm using an Apple Extreme and Express because I need the intranet speed and print sharing, but cannot really recommend them if all you need is basic routing.
 
Hi there,
I posted about this before 'mac hacked or not'. My computer has been hacked. I pretty much think it's because of the useless router talk talk gave me where you cannot change the 'admin' username 'admin' password or any other password - how bad is that? Yes the firewall is on and anti virus software and little snitch to monitor everything. It's just not been enough.
 
Can you log onto the router and are not able to change the login name and password? If so, it sounds like a firmware issue.

Or, can you simply not login using the assigned name and password.

What type of router do you have now?
 
Hi there,
It's an echolife hg520b. When I try to access the router my mac asks me for the gateway password which i am unable to change (or can I somehow) which is admin, admin. I rang up talk talk about this and they said it is the default password and you cannot change it. Then there is the username password within the router which is the username, password that talk talk gave you when you signed up with them and that also you are unable to change as it is a default.
 
I honestly think that OP has some sort of psychiatric disorder going on. Not that there's anything I or anyone else can do about it... I just think it's pretty fascinating.
 
If you cannot change the password because of the firmware, thats reason enough to dump it IMHO.

Did you get this free or something, because I looked it up and all I got was a strong feeling of distain.

What Netgear router do you have in mind? Personally I'd go with Belkin because of the lifetime warranty though.
 
phsense or m0n0wall

I wouldnt spend a dime on your over the shelf routers, IE, linksys, netgear, etc.

Look up pfsense or m0n0wall, and get a firewall for free that is as good if not better than your corporate solutions.

I run pfsense on a hacked watchguard firebox x700.
 
Thanks people, especially Sifter for your help:D. How else do you explain these occurences though, if you haven't read my post, such as all my bookmarks just vanishing whilst I was in Safari, some 50 of them? Then the new email accounts I set up, I send the mail but NOONE is receiving the email. I just spoke to a security mac consultant about this and he told me that you cannot hack a mac and there is no point putting virus software on them because they simply don't get viruses. This is just patently untrue if you look at my other post. It's just because people don't hear about this sort of thing happening much probably because as soon as they mention it on a forum like this, they get shouted down by everyone and told they have a psychiatric disorder and so they leave. Also I have done my own research and there is that famous example of a hacker getting into a mac in under 30mins but of course people say 'oh that was a set up, Microsoft set it up'. People just cannot accept that they're computer is flawed, they beleive everything they are told and it is like a self perpetuating truth. Well, I am telling you it CAN happen.

Sorry Sifter, when you say Pfsense router, I just looked them up and they do software? I'm a bit confused and you said 'get a firewall for free that is as good if not better than your corporate solutions' what do you mean by this exactly - you have got a hacked watchguard firebox x700?

Also I don't mind spending money on this set up.

Just been looking at Watchguard, that looks the type of thing I am looking for but I bet it is a nightmare to set up. I'm with talk talk by the way so I bet I will have to change them but I think I am under contract!:)
 
^ Just some comments.

I would suggest a router from Linksys, Netgear or Belkin. Personal choice is Linksys, but the others are good as well.

Regarding router admin passwords, in my experience all routers have a default user ID and password that is set at the factory. For example, Linksys routers the password is set to "admin" with no user ID. So when you reset the router, it goes to this default. Of course, if you purchase a router and don't change this information, anybody can come along and log into your router which is why this information needs to be changed.

To change this info, the user can log into the router over the LAN cable and set up the router as they see fit to include changing the password.

When you log into your router use HTTPS instead of HTTP.

If WiFi is that big of a security issue, turn it off and use LAN cable. Much more secure that way for many reasons.

Currently there are no virus for the Mac OS X platform. None. Nada.

Trojans can be downloaded and installed on any platform. The weakest link is always that which is between the chair and the keyboard -- meaning the user. If the user clicks on a link to DL something, and they enter an admin ID and password to install it, the computer can be infected with the Trojan or other Malware including Spyware.

There are software key loggers for the Mac platform. Double check your system to make sure that you don't have any installed.
 
joojooyoufather said:
Sorry Sifter, when you say Pfsense router, I just looked them up and they do software? I'm a bit confused and you said 'get a firewall for free that is as good if not better than your corporate solutions' what do you mean by this exactly - you have got a hacked watchguard firebox x700?
Click to expand...

Any firewall is software/firmware driven, and the same goes for pfsense. It is software that you lay down on top of a hardware piece. In this case, I chose an x700 from watchguard. Inside, is a PIII 1.4ghz processor, with 512meg of ram. It also has a minipci slot for adding wifi. pfsense is run off of a compact flash card inside the case also.

When I mentioned "hacked", I didnt mean literally hacked. I just meant that I am not using the OS that the watchguard comes with, Ive simply replaced it with pfsense.
 
billib said:
As far as a router, buy a good mainstream NAME BRAND with the features you want and a price you can live with.
Click to expand...

And unfortunately, more often than not, one is simply paying for the name.

Seriously, check out pfsense or m0n0wall and save yourself some money.
 
Can always skip the NAT routers, and trade up to a SPI hardware firewall.

It'll be much more expensive though, and I'd avoid the Netgear version and go with someone else.

And downgrade from wireless back to wired.

Edit: Opps, looked at the others and most are enterprise level, and using a cheap Netgear VPN router with SPI, and use a linksys or someone else for NAT should get you around the Netgear problem with routers and allow you to still grab a consumer level hardware firewall.
 
I think you're 100% wrong about your Mac being "hacked" :rolleyes:, but if I want to argue that I'll visit your other thread.

If you're concerned about your network security, no matter what router your have make sure you lock it down. Obviously the first step is changing the login and using a strong password. Use the highest wireless security level (WPA2, etc.), hide the router's name (SSID), and you could also use a MAC address filter to only allow specific hardware to join the network (MAC addresses can be spoofed, but the more layers of protection the better). Or you can just go completely wired and not worry about all that.

I replaced my really old wifi router with Linksys' cheapest current model that does 802.11G, and I installed the DD-WRT open source firmware which has tons and tons of advanced options.
 
Thanks guys and Sifter. Sifter, do you think I am capable of dealing with the setting up of the sort of configuration you have - I'm not clued up at all about what I'd need to do? A lot of info there. I will post back on here to let you know how I get on. I'm also not using the wireless connection.

Also, another thing, is it worth using anti virus software? I had ClamxAv and it has done f-all to recognise anything. When I had a PC and got hacked into the virus checker I can't remember what it was called went crazy like a car alarm but there was nothing I could do, in fact, I wiped the computer and still problems were happening. I had no router though or firewall just the virus checker. It seemed to do it's job pretty well. Are free ones just as good as the ones you pay for. Someone told me they all get their updates from the same place so it makes no difference.
 
joojooyoufather said:
Also, another thing, is it worth using anti virus software? I had ClamxAv and it has done f-all to recognise anything. When I had a PC and got hacked into the virus checker I can't remember what it was called went crazy like a car alarm but there was nothing I could do
Click to expand...
It won't do crap for the situation you're describing. And there are NO Mac viruses, only a few easily avoidable trojans (which, I hear, the AV programs will detect if you're really worried about those).
 
Routers and Anti-Virus

joojooyoufather said:
Thanks guys and Sifter. Sifter, do you think I am capable of dealing with the setting up of the sort of configuration you have - I'm not clued up at all about what I'd need to do? A lot of info there. I will post back on here to let you know how I get on. I'm also not using the wireless connection.

Also, another thing, is it worth using anti virus software? I had ClamxAv and it has done f-all to recognise anything. When I had a PC and got hacked into the virus checker I can't remember what it was called went crazy like a car alarm but there was nothing I could do, in fact, I wiped the computer and still problems were happening. I had no router though or firewall just the virus checker. It seemed to do it's job pretty well. Are free ones just as good as the ones you pay for. Someone told me they all get their updates from the same place so it makes no difference.
Click to expand...

Hi - I'm new to the Mac forums, albeit have been a Mac user for 5 years so still in 'L' plates. I use the D-Link routers and whilst the user name remains 'admin' the password (initially 'admin' too) can be changed easily - a good router firm and product. With regards to anti virus, I have always used Intego Virus Barrier and Net Barrier X5 - worth visiting the website and a product which I would recommend. ;)
 
I really don't think you got "hacked." I'm sure of it.

Anyway:

IPFW (free, comes built into OS X) is the best firewall out there, for any operating system, at any price. Use WaterRoof (free) to configure it.

Little Snitch is the best outgoing firewall.

WPA2 is currently 100% secure. Use a password with at least 15 characters. Each character added after that will make it take approximately 40x longer to brute force.

ClamXAV only detects Windows threats. If you really feel the need for antivirus software for OS X, iAntiVirus is free and quite good.

The "famous example of a hacker getting into a Mac" is easily protected against. The hacker was unable to remotely compromise the computer, so navigated Safari to a site which contained malicious Javacript, which caused a memory overflow. Using Firefox with the NoScript addon protects against this.
 
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