New Asus router firmware to fix FTP security issue

  • 13 January 2014
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The first firmware updates to fix a security issue have been issued for the popular Asus routers, with the top of the range Asus RT-AC68U (£200) getting a new release of firmware that can be downloaded from the Asus support website.

The security issue was that when people connected a USB HDD or thumb-drive the default FTP access did not require a password. The new firmware will default to requiring a password to be defined, or if people really want to let the world access their files they can opt for unlimited access. The problem affects other routers in the Asus RT range, including the RT-AC56U, RT-AC66U, RT-N66U and RT-N16 and firmware updates are expected in due course.

If you are using the external storage option and have configured FTP access it is worth double checking what security you have setup and a good bit of advice when setting up these sorts of remote access systems is to double check that anonymous access is not available from another Internet connection and a sensibly hard to guess password.

The Asus RT-N66U has been a popular router amongst our forum users, and is also popular with the Tomato and DD-WRT custom firmware communities due to the fast processor and higher than average amounts of flash memory.
 
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Thanks Jasper, I had an Asus router that I've just replaced with time warner router. I was having issues and now I know I can get firmware updates. I had. When my computers were being hacked, I called in a outside tech support and he replaced my linksys router for an Asus which was used. Anyway I am interested in setting that router up again but at least I know it has a firmware update. Time Warner charges 5$ more a month just to help me with tech support but what an great article to find.

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