Airport extreme wifi security

There is really no need to enable the firewall on your computer if you are connected to the AirPort Extreme. May 16, AM. Page content loaded. Or do I need to turn that feature on? I'm probably just getting terminology confused. May 16, PM. May 17, AM. Communities Get Support. Sign in Sign in Sign in corporate. Browse Search. Ask a question. User profile for user: DMerz DMerz. I guess that's it for now and thanks in advance for the help regarding these questions.

More Less. Reply I have this question too 5 I have this question too Me too 5 Me too. View answer in context. Helpful answers Drop Down menu. Loading page content. Reply Helpful 1 Thread reply - more options Link to this Post. Sorry for the dumb questions.

It's probably pretty obvious I'm a computer newbie Reply Helpful Thread reply - more options Link to this Post. However, the sixth generation devices only partially work with it. Most routers have 4 LAN side Ethernet ports. Note too, that there are many one-star reviews of the AirPort Express at apple. Then too, there is issue of trust.

Apple never says anything about the security flaws in their products. And, they often delay fixing security problems. In my opinion, this corporate behavior makes Apple untrustworthy. Many companies learn about bugs in their software from outsiders. Well run companies, pay for bug reports. Apple does not offer a bug bounty. Thus, they don't get bug reports they could otherwise be informed of.

There is an inadvertent upside to using an Apple router - they are relatively unpopular. Thus, bad buys may pay less attention to them because few people use them. On the other hand, there are few poor people with iPads and MacBooks, so compromising a location with Apple hardware may well yield upper income victims.

Can you lock down access to an Apple router? I don't know, so I went in search of the manuals. Strike one. Strike two was that the manuals had not been updated in years.

A check in June for AirPort manuals turned up no manuals from or Strike three is that Apple fails to put a date or a version number in their Setup Guides. Thus, the firmware may well have been updated with changes or new features that are not reflected in the manual.

The Setup Guides say nothing about securing access to an Apple router. Just some passing references to a password. I take this as a bad sign. You can find the latest router firmware at support. As of late January 3, the latest AirPort Express firmware 7. The latest AirPort Extreme firmware 7. See all the bugs in OpenSSL from and from Is the long time between software updates because the router firmware has no bugs and includes every feature anyone could want?

Or, is it because Apple doesn't really care about their routers? How the router can tell a printer from another type of wireless device is unclear to me. Since WPS is a standard published protocol, any type of device should be able to communicate using the protocol. In addition, Apple does not seem to support all the various WPS modes of operation.

According to the AirPort Extreme setup guide , it supports a mode where you enter a number from the assumed printer into the router.

This mode was never a security risk. It also supports another mode that Apple calls "First attempt" for, again, connecting a WPS printer to the network. The Setup Guide does not explain this mode at all. But, while Apple does not seem to update the Setup Guide, the do update their website. It too, has never been a security issue. A devoted Apple person wishes their Apple router had some more features.

To me, the most interesting point in this article is that Apple has not refreshed the firmware in the AirPort Extreme for nearly a year. One feature he wants, is for Apple routers to be smarter about streaming video and audio.