NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Forum Discussion
j1n
Mar 15, 2018Apprentice
Orbi and WEP
I’ve been under the assumption that using WPS encryption is insecure, and the best encryption is to use WPA2 (hopefully with the Krack exploit patched). I noticed that it seems the Orbi system does us...
j1n
Mar 16, 2018Apprentice
You are right. I did mix up “WPA” & “WEP” with WPS. Regardless, WPS can be turned on or off on the Orbi outdoor wireless satellite (RBS50Y) for security purposes. I guess that doesn’t make sense with the Orbi Router and indoor satellite(s).
st_shaw
Mar 16, 2018Master
I'm not sure if you have a question anymore, but clearly, WPS should be turned off on an outdoor device.
- larryindublinMar 16, 2018Luminary
st_shawwrote:I'm not sure if you have a question anymore, but clearly, WPS should be turned off on an outdoor device.
I understand what is is saying. The risk of someone just coming up to your outdoor Orbi is you can connect just by pushing a button without knowing the password, so they allow turning WPS totally off. While a little lower risk, it still is there for the indoor units. For example: I have a contractor working on the house. I can CHOOSE to give them guest wifi access but they could also just push the WPS button and get connected to my router.
I agree, that functionality should be able to be totally turned off.
- st_shawMar 16, 2018Master
I agree with what you wrote. But, if somoene can touch your Orbi to push the WPS button, they can plug something into a LAN port and access the LAN directly. So, WPS ON or OFF doesn't make a huge difference in security if someone has physical access to your router.
- j1nMar 16, 2018Apprentice“I agree with what you wrote. But, if somoene can touch your Orbi to push the WPS button, they can plug something into a LAN port and access the LAN directly. So, WPS ON or OFF doesn't make a huge difference in security if someone has physical access to your router.”
The Outdoor Orbi does not have any LAN ports, so they added the ability to turn off WPS (sync button) so no one can easily get access to your network. Since the other Orbi satellites have LAN ports, you’re saying that it wouldn’t matter if the WPS (sync) button was disabled or not because they could use a cable to get into your network.
Is the Sync Button (using WPS) only used to sync the router with the satellites, or could someone get wireless access to the network by pressing the sync button?