When I signed up for Distributel, one of the things that I was offered was what they described to me as a “WiFi pod”. I only took one as I had zero intention of using the gear that an ISP provides as that’s a form of lock in by said ISP. But what I got was a pre-configured TP-Link Deco X50 WiFi router/Access point as opposed to something unique and custom made for the ISP. That piqued my interest.
The Deco X50 is a WiFi 6 dual band router that when you have two or more of these can also deliver mesh WiFi. Let’s have a look at it:
From the front, it’s rather unremarkable. Which is good as it will fit into any decor.
From the back you get three gigabit ethernet ports. Any port can be used to connect to your ISP. But because they are all gigabit, you’re limited to gigabit speeds. Which makes the X50 not the correct choice if you have faster than gigabit service.
Now each X50 unit has only two radios. A 2.4GHz one and a 5GHz transmitter that handles both client connections and backhaul traffic. Having a third radio for backhaul traffic would be better for a lot of people who have a lot of devices in a mesh setup as that will create some amount of congestion between each unit if the traffic between the two is high enough. But only having two radios keeps the price down which I suspect was the priority here.
Power users will be disappointed with the fact that there’s no web page with advanced configuration options as everything is done through the Deco app, although there is a web based status page. To be fair you can configure a number of things via the app form the initial setup, which by the way is easy enough for the average person to do, to some more complex tasks as turning on QoS or using their parental controls subscription service. In terms of the parental controls service, the fact that parental controls are a subscription service that you have to pay for is a bit of #fail as competitors ASUS offer that for free.
Now in my testing, performance was actually decent. Let’s start with the performance from the Optical Networking Terminal that Distributel supplied to the X50:
Now I had to test this via plugging in an Ethernet cable to my MacBook Pro because I couldn’t find a speed test built into the router or the Deco app. But this result is better, especially on the upload end of things than my ASUS Zen WiFi XT8 which isn’t that good when it comes to upload in PPPoE scenarios. Further validating that I need to dump the ASUS gear for something better as I am clearly leaving some speed on the table by using the ASUS hardware.
From a WiFi perspective, the performance was also decent. This result was from about 5 feet from the X50:
That’s competitive with the XT8 which also supports WiFi 6. So from a performance perspective, it doesn’t suck. Though I do wonder how it would perform with multiple units and a lot of traffic given that there’s no dedicated backhaul.
So would I recommend the X50? It depends on the type of user your are. If your needs are modest. As in you need WiFi 6 in your home and you’re not doing anything crazy, this might be an option for you. If you’re a power user or you have faster than gigabit internet, you should likely look elsewhere. At least the price is better than decent as I found a pair of these for $179 CAD on Amazon. Thus if you fit the use case for this WiFi router/access point, it’s worth looking at in my opinion.
Fortra Discovers A Nearly 200% Spike in Abuse of Cloudflare’s Trusted Platforms
Posted in Commentary with tags Fortra on November 6, 2024 by itnerdFortra, has uncovered a significant surge in cybercriminal abuse of Cloudflare Pages (198% increase) and Workers (104%) over the past year. The data also reveals that monthly incidents on Cloudflare Pages alone could surpass 1,600 by year’s end—a 257% year-over-year increase.
What’s surprising?
While it’s primarily used legitimately, Cloudflare Pages can be exploited for malicious purposes due to its reputation, free hosting, ease of use, and global Content Delivery Network (CDN). Threat actors can create convincing malicious sites, using custom domains and secure HTTPS connections to deceive victims. Similarly, while designed to help developers to deploy and run JavaScript code directly at the edge of Cloudflare’s CDN, Cloudflare Workers can be exploited to bypass security controls or automate various attacks like brute-force login attempts. In short, they’re using Cloudflare’s strengths to lure victims into a false sense of security.
Cybersecurity teams may need to change their approach
While Cloudflare does implement threat detection and phishing prevention mechanisms, Fortra’s report suggests a growing trend of abuse on reputable platforms, highlighting the need for more vigilant monitoring, even in environments perceived as secure. Security teams should be aware of these increased attacks and proactively monitor for suspicious activity, as the platform can often be misused before detection of these attacks occur.
Tips for cybersecurity teams:
Cloudflare has several security measures in place to combat abuse, including threat detection systems, phishing detection, and user reporting mechanisms to take down malicious content. Despite these efforts, cybercriminals can still exploit the platform before malicious content is detected. The risk is in how cybercriminals are misusing the service, and not in the technology itself.
Users can protect themselves from phishing by following several best practices. First, they should be cautious when interacting with unfamiliar websites, especially those requesting personal or sensitive information. Verifying the legitimacy of URLs and ensuring that the domain matches the expected source can help identify phishing attempts. Additionally, enabling two-factor authentication (2FA) for accounts adds an extra layer of security.Developers using Cloudflare Pages should implement strong security measures such as regularly updating their site’s dependencies, using HTTPS for secure connections, and monitoring for suspicious activity. It’s also important to report any phishing attempts or malicious activity to Cloudflare for further investigation and takedown, helping to prevent wider abuse.
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