Orbi WiFi 7 RBE973
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Previous Registered User On Orbi - Security Risk or Affect App Use?

GeeLou
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Previous Registered User On Orbi - Security Risk or Affect App Use?

Hello,

 

I am about to buy a used Orbi 752 from a seller on Amazon.  I inquired if this was registered previously and stated that it was.  Seller also doesn't know login or registration information.  I saw in another post where a previous owner can still use the Orbi app to remotely administer another user's Orbi after selling it to him.  I know you don't need to register to use the full functionality of this Orbi, but I am concerned from a security perspective that the previous user can potentially access my Orbi system from their app, assuming they remembered login or is lying to me.  

 

I plan to factory reset the Orbi 752 system as soon as I get it:  

 

Anyone been in this situation or can confirm this is nothing to fear as a security risk?

 

So I should be fine then after factory resetting, integrating it to my network, and using it normally? 

 

Can I use the Orbi app as well,  since this has been registered previously?  

 

I appreciate any advice or input on this, and thank you for your time as well!  

 

-  Lou

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CrimpOn
Guru

Re: Previous Registered User On Orbi - Security Risk or Affect App Use?

Wow. This is thinking ahead.  Good!

 

As far  as I am aware, Netgear has provided no formal mechanism for customers to:

  • Indicate that they have sold their product and are no longer associated with it, or
  • Have bought a used product and now assert ownership over it.

I was also unaware that Amazon  now brokers purchases between private parties.  (Silly me. I had thought that anything purchased from Amazon was "from Amazon".)

 

My (dim) memory of setting up the Orbi app is that the actual Orbi web admin password is required to get the app set up.  If you do a Factory Reset and change the password, then anyone who has previously set up the Orbi app will be locked out.

 

In the absence of any formal method to document this transaction, my suggestion is to send a private message to one of the forum moderators explaining the situation, and providing the sort of detail that should not be posted on a public forum, i.e. who you are, how to contact you, the serial number of the Orbi product, Amazon putchase number, etc.

 

Good idea to think ahead.  I, myself, purhased an Orbi RBR50 from eBay and have been using it for about a year.  Have never thought that someone ("out there") might one day open the Orbi app and use "Anywhere Access" to mess with me.)  Am I "just lucky", or does the fact that I changed the admin password protect me?

Message 2 of 3

Re: Previous Registered User On Orbi - Security Risk or Affect App Use?


@CrimpOn wrote:

 

As far  as I am aware, Netgear has provided no formal mechanism for customers to:

  • Indicate that they have sold their product and are no longer associated with it, or
  • Have bought a used product and now assert ownership over it.

The problem is that there are several different types of "registration". MyNetgear  and ReadyCLOUD.

 

Claiming ownership through MyNetgear seems to be a pointless exercise. All that registration there does it to set you up for 90-days of post-purchase free support and the one-year (or more in some places) warranty. Neither of these is transferable to a second owner, no matter where you bought it.

 

What does matter is tying a router, for example, to the Netgear cloud which sets it up for Anywhere Access and ReadyCLOUD.

 

In this case the registration that matters is not to Netgear, but to the DNS service that lurks behind Anywhere Access and ReadyCLOUD.

 

This is where to check if something  is already registered for these features.

 

ReadyCLOUD

 

Dig deeper and you can end up down a rathole like this:

 

ReadyCLOUD to MyNETGEAR Single Sign-On FAQ | Answer | NETGEAR Support

 

When buying a used device, the easiest way to gain control over a device is to get them to Unregister the thing on ReadyCLOUD, not on MyNethgear.

 

I leave it to someone else to dig into the role of the mobile apps in this process.

 


@CrimpOn wrote:

In the absence of any formal method to document this transaction, my suggestion is to send a private message to one of the forum moderators explaining the situation, and providing the sort of detail that should not be posted on a public forum, i.e. who you are, how to contact you, the serial number of the Orbi product, Amazon putchase number, etc.

 


I suspect that this is also the approach needed to move a used device to a new account.

 

 

 

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