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Security of Apple’s AirPort Routers
I’ve been planning to get around to setting up a VPN on my devices for awhile and I’ve been looking at ExpressVPN. The idea of putting the VPN on a router seemed good, so I started looking at my router setup. I have some Apple Airport routers I’m currently using. I like having the Apple ecosystem which gives me AirPlay on the Airport Express routers (like in bedrooms) and a HDD for Time Machine Backups. I’ve been looking at ExpressVPN website, and I noticed that Apple isn’t on the list of supported routers. What a bummer… I was already aware that Apple has decided to drop the router market for now, so…. My Question is twofold.
First, are Apple’s (last generation) routers old enough to need replaced (in other words shouldn’t be used connected to the internet) or can they still be just as secure as others? We’re talking about a network with one (occasionally 2) MacBook Air, an iPad, and three iPhones, plus an Epson printer (no smart accessories at this point, but considering connecting security system). The network hardware consists of one AirPort Extreme and six AirPort Express routers linked to it.
Second, if apple routers are partially but not 100% outdated, is it possibly enough to use another router connected to ExpressVPN as the main router, and leave the Apple routers as “sub-routers”?
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1 Reply
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Joshua – it looks like the last gen was made in 2016, so these are fairly old for network gear and you may run the risk of the devices dying. There are 4 vulnerabilities ranging from 5-7.5/10 which is not great but the alternative below will help protect you.
The alternative you describe by placing a wired router that supports ExpressVPN between your modem and the airport extreme you could protect all of you devices with the VPN and still use your apple routers and airplay. This also protects your apple network devices from being connected directly to the internet, which would limit the attacks on the vulnerabilities they have.
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