Should I replace my TP-Link router?

December 27, 2024 11:36 AM

TP-Link has been in the news recently over security concerns with their wifi routers. Should I replace the TP-Link router I'm using for home wifi?

News reports mention lax security, backdoors, usage by botnets, and possible national security concerns for the USA. There is discussion of TP-Link products being banned in the U.S. in the future.

What does this mean for me, Winnie the User? Is it okay to keep using my TP-Link AX3000 WiFi 6 Router? I'm just a regular old USAsian, with no particular government or national security connections. We use Macs at home, if that makes a difference.

Would it be pro-social to replace my TP-Link router? Is there something I should do about the firmware that won't be a setup or maintenance headache? If I do replace my TP-Link, which should I replace it with?

Thanks for any practical insights into this news story.

posted by Winnie the Proust to Computers & Internet (8 answers total)

I don't have specific recommendations for a replacement, sorry, but the very first thing you should do, if you haven't already, is change the default username and password on the router you already have. An alarming number of people don't do this, and just use the default username/password, which is what causes a lot of the problems you mention, because it essentially leaves those doors wide open.
posted by pdb at 1:26 PM on December 27 [2 favorites]

Maybe someone here has some thoughts on getting a router that's compatible with OpenWRT? (Unfortunately it appears that your current router isn't compatible with it.) If nothing else, you can do some things to lock down your current device...

I've been holding off for far too long on upgrading my ancient indestructible Apple router given the general crappiness of the current networking options and endless reports of exploits of so many vendor's equipment.
posted by rambling wanderlust at 1:27 PM on December 27 [2 favorites]

my tp link is the first decent consumer grade router ive owned in almost 20 years. have probably had over ten. at this point i dont even care.
posted by AlbertCalavicci at 2:58 PM on December 27

short answer: yes.
longer answer: part of your security hygiene should be to make sure your router has the latest firmware. sometimes this can be set to be done automatically.
posted by evilmonk at 4:09 PM on December 27 [1 favorite]

I've been holding off for far too long on upgrading my ancient indestructible Apple router given the general crappiness of the current networking options and endless reports of exploits of so many vendor's equipment.

This is me, too, and I will be closely watching this thread for recommendations.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:32 PM on December 27

A March 2024 Hudson Institute policy memo by Michael O'Rielly, a former Federal Communications Commission member, said it remained "unclear how prevalent TP-Link's vulnerabilities are compared to other wireless routers [...]"

There's no question that TP-Link has some security issues. However, I suspect that it (like Tiktok) is the target of the hour because of the Chinese connection.

Speaking as someone who wrote the software for routers/APs for a living, if I was feeling serious I would get a router that supports OpenWRT and use that. There are enough eyeballs on that code that it may be marginally more secure than commercial options.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 5:42 PM on December 27

with respect to pdb's recommendation to change the default passwords- this is much less of a problem than it used to be, when every router was shipped wide open or with admin/admin username and password. Most newer-ish routers ship with a unique-to-that-device password (something like purple-sparrow-496), which is certainly better than nothing.
posted by rockindata at 7:39 AM on December 28

Response by poster: Thanks for the perspectives. My takeaway is that it's not urgent to replace the router but I could and if I feel up to fussing with it I should get something I can install OpenWRT on. And in the meantime, I doublechecked that I updated the login so we should be all set on that.

I'm going to mark this resolved, but please feel free to chime in with more thoughts if you have something to contribute.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 7:32 PM on December 28