How secure is ReadyShare for sharing HDD on local LAN?

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sirhawkeye64

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May 28, 2015
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For anyone who has used the Netgear ReadyShare system for their router: how secure is this method for sharing a HDD on a local LAN? I'm looking at using ReadyShare or a dedicated PC as a server. I like the idea of ReadyShare because I don't have to devote another computer to the task, but I want to know if it's any more or less secure than just running an actual wired NAS or dedicated PC.
 
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jsmithepa


Great. Now am going into details of my terse first answer.

You have all that stuff you mentioned, that's all you can do. But hackers these day don't have to do frontal attack, trying to break into your router is too hard, there are much easier ways getting to you through the "back door." All they have to do is make you click into a dubious website, once you do that, they have planted a virus on your PC, that virus have total access of what your PC can do, scary huh? So if your PC has total access to the shared storage, the virus will do too.

So, having off line backups is the sure fire way to save you in that situation, because...
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sirhawkeye64

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OK. I'm doing that as it is, but am more concerned about outsiders accessing the shared drive. I imagine it would be just as vulnerable as a PC on the network (or the network itself) if someone got into it. So maybe this comes down to ensuring the network itself is secured (which i Have taken measures, such as hiding the SSID for guest and local WLAN networks), all computers have paid-AV programs and are kept up to date. Firewall is configured on the router, etc.
 
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jsmithepa

jsmithepa

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Great. Now am going into details of my terse first answer.

You have all that stuff you mentioned, that's all you can do. But hackers these day don't have to do frontal attack, trying to break into your router is too hard, there are much easier ways getting to you through the "back door." All they have to do is make you click into a dubious website, once you do that, they have planted a virus on your PC, that virus have total access of what your PC can do, scary huh? So if your PC has total access to the shared storage, the virus will do too.

So, having off line backups is the sure fire way to save you in that situation, because no matter how malicious the virus is, it can't touch nothing that isn't plugged-in (on line).

A security tip and a time saver I pontificate: Maintain some good OS Images backups (C drive) because most viruses are planted there. I use Macrium (free) but there are others. Once you sense something is amiss, all you need to do is to restore the Image backup, takes no time whatever, rather than freaking out and trying to figure out how to clean up the infection. A Image Restore will "take you back in time" to when the PC was healthy, guaranteed. This also works if you have done an update, changed something (software) and now is not working and you don't remember or know exactly how to UNDO. An Image Backup will UNDO rather efficiently.
 
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sirhawkeye64

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Thanks. Yes I do keep a full system image backup, and it gets updated either bi-weekly or monthly (all of my data is stored on a secondary drive anyway, so even if it's been a week or two since the last full system image, all I have to do is restore some Internet bookmarks mainly, and probably update a few applications, which is nothing. Then once the OS is back up and going again, I'll attach my second HDD with my data and do AV scans on it, so I do have a disaster plan, and obviously know about clicking malicious email links, visiting web pages that are in question, etc (I'm an IT person anyway, but just haven't ever used REadyShare on a router, and have always been skeptical of the security of NAS devices to this day.. I always just felt that having your data stored on an actual computer that is actively scanning for viruses was better than letting one of the clients know that the NAS device contains a virus. But I guess in the end, if someone really wants to get my data, they'll find some why to get it.

I do keep two backups: one on-site (for if I accidentally delete something) and one off-site (in case of fire, theft, etc). So I've got that covered.

I'll probably just play with it and see how it goes. Again, I don't plan on storing any programs on the drive that will be attached, but again, technology has gotten so advanced that even pictures and plain text files can have code embedded in them that could lead to an infection. I'll just set one of my PCs to scan the drive periodically at night.
 
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