Question Wi-Fi Repeater Security

[fxprogljr]

I just picked up a Shenzhen ZJQ-1 Wi-Fi repeater but before I connect it, I'm wondering about privacy/security. I can find no User Agreement or Privacy Policy and am concerned. Can this company (or anyone else) see/watch what I am doing or do these units do nothing other then function as a repeater? I'd appreciate your thoughts

 

[lantis3]

Just because it's a made in China or a no brand, and no User Agreement or Privacy Policy?

No. Repeater also does not have a CPU chip that can run an OS and software to capture and transmit your data. That costs money.

If a vendor wants to steal you info, it will, no matter if it has User Agreement or Privacy Policy on paper or anywhere. But as I said, it costs money, and a lot of efforts, not worth it.

A repeater just receive a wifi signal and retransmit it to your wifi devices, it probably can't even reach more than 50ft.

What you should worry is its quality. Why choose a no brand when TP-Link products are already cheap/affordable and have been proven for many years?

 

[bill001g]

It technically could if they really wanted to but not worth the effort. To report to a outside location it would have to know how to get to the internet. After looking at the manual the device is more stupid than most repeaters. It uses a fixed IP of 192.168.19.1 to configure it. This means it can not talk to your router IP and gain access to the internet. Some repeaters get a IP from the router so they can access the internet. Those you would block at the router or you would manually change the management IP on the repeater to work similarly stupid to the one you have.

The largest risk is not the repeater itself but that it uses WPS to be setup. This "feature" makes your router extremely insecure, no matter how good your wifi password is the WPS password can be cracked easily with a cell phone and it will then give out your secure wifi password. Best is you can disable WPS on your router and manually setup the repeater without the feature. Some device like "smart" light bulbs have no other way to set them up than WPS. Maybe you can disable the WPS on the router after the repeater is running...hard to say what is going to happen when you lose power.

Note for almost any repeater to work it needs a feature called WDS enabled on your router. This might be disabled since it too is a security risk. Not as big a one but it is to prevent someone who knows your wifi password from connecting a repeater and then configuring the repeater to allow access with no passwords for example.