[ale] OT critical vulnerabilities in ASUS routers

[Jay Lozier]

Remember most marketing types have no technical training. In fact some I  
have met had less computer skills than the average user.

One of the reasons Apple's "Walled Garden" works reasonably well is that  
Apple is taking some responsibility to make sure the users have less to  
worry about.

On Fri, 19 Jul 2013 10:10:16 -0400, Jim Kinney <jim.kinney at gmail.com>  
wrote:

> The flip side of that is, most (l)users can barely read enough to know  
> what only-fits->one-way plug goes where. so asking (l)users to have some  
> responsibility for what the >devices they buy and put on the interwebs  
> is like asking a 5th grader to perform their >own appendectomy.
>
> The fault with weak products connected lies with marketing. Marketing  
> still tries to >make things out like it's just plug-n-play. THERE'S NO  
> SUCH THING! Once the sheeple >figure out," Hey! Sysadmins save my bacon  
> daily!", then maybe the sheeple will >understand that marketers lie  
> worse that politicians and EVERYTHING requires maintenance >so they need  
> to have a sysadmin around often or they have to learn how to do it  
> >themselves. That will be the point the manufacturers have to start  
> making things easier >to fix/upgrade/maintain instead of plug-n-pray  
> disposable technology; i.e. - enough >people start buying ONLY the stuff  
> that's easily fixable. Then the manufacturers start >actually supporting  
> projects like DD-WRT, et al. so the updates will always work on >their  
> hardware.
>
> Case in point: look at the kernel commits from Dell, IBM, Intel and AMD.  
> They want to >sell hardware so they pitch in to make sure the kernel has  
> the best available knowledge.
>
>
> On Fri, Jul 19, 2013 at 9:10 AM, Charles Shapiro  
> <hooterpincher at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Oh fer Pete's sake.  It took me less than an hour to put decent  
>> Open-Source firmware >>on my device and get it properly configured.   
>> The 3rd-party stuff was way better laid >>out and easier to understand  
>> than the garbaggio that Asus had on there.  This is just >>part of your  
>> responsibility when you connect to the internetz.
>>
>> -- CHS
>>
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Jul 18, 2013 at 1:57 PM, Jim Kinney <jim.kinney at gmail.com>  
>> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Thu, Jul 18, 2013 at 1:36 PM, Ron Frazier (ALE)
>>>> the billion dollar manufacturers can't / won't get it right and keep  
>>>> the device >>>>updated.
>>>This will ALWAYS be an issue with embedded OS systems. There is NO  
>>> solution other >>>than to reflash a new embedded OS onto it. At least  
>>> there are options like tomato >>>and other DDWRT derivatives.  Think  
>>> about the poor schlub who has no skillz and a >>>router that lets in  
>>> Mr NotNiceGuy.
>>>
>>> The alternative is to buy a new gizmo. That's the plan from the  
>>> company (although >>>many do update firmware but only provide info on  
>>> flashing from a windblows platform) >>>as it sells another gizmo.
>>> Ah the curse of capitalism in manufacturing: must make it good enough  
>>> to sell and >>>bad enough that it will be replaced often but not so  
>>> bad that buyers hate you and >>>find alternatives.
>>>
>>>>>> --
>>> --James P. Kinney III
>>>
>>>>>> Every time you stop a school, you will have to build a jail. What  
>>>>>> you gain at one >>>end you lose at the other. It's like feeding a  
>>>>>> dog on his own tail. It won't fatten >>>the dog.
>>> - Speech 11/23/1900 Mark Twain
>>>
>>>>>> http://electjimkinney.org
>>> http://heretothereideas.blogspot.com/
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
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>
>
>
> ----James P. Kinney III
>
>> Every time you stop a school, you will have to build a jail. What you  
>> gain at one end >you lose at the other. It's like feeding a dog on his  
>> own tail. It won't fatten the dog.
> - Speech 11/23/1900 Mark Twain
>
>> http://electjimkinney.org
> http://heretothereideas.blogspot.com/



-- 
Jay Lozier
jslozier at gmail.com
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