SKY ROUTER FIRMWARE

How do Sky let you know if new versions of their own firmware for the
Netgear router they send are available?

Do you install it yourself or do they do it automatically....Hope the first
one as sounds like they have too much access to the equipement otherwise!

Dave Boomhauer wrote:
> How do Sky let you know if new versions of their own firmware for the
> Netgear router they send are available?
>
> Do you install it yourself or do they do it automatically....Hope the
> first one as sounds like they have too much access to the equipement
> otherwise!

I did ask about this in one of my many early phone calls & was told that
they will upgrade the firmware remotely.

Come the day when that happens be prepared for a nationwide uproar & wailing
after many boxes fail the upload & go faulty....

"kraftee" <kraftee@b&e-cottee.me.uk> wrote in message
news:etgp5h$8m8$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Dave Boomhauer wrote:
>> How do Sky let you know if new versions of their own firmware for the
>> Netgear router they send are available?
>>
>> Do you install it yourself or do they do it automatically....Hope the
>> first one as sounds like they have too much access to the equipement
>> otherwise!
>
> I did ask about this in one of my many early phone calls & was told that
> they will upgrade the firmware remotely.
>
> Come the day when that happens be prepared for a nationwide uproar &
> wailing after many boxes fail the upload & go faulty....
>

I'm concerned about this.

On an unrelated matter I thought I'd scan ports on my XP machine here to see
if any were open. Four TCP ports show up as open, but do not respond - I
scratched my head and thought of Sky.....Whether right/ wrong or down right
paranoid I came up with this.....

Sky must have had certain ports programmed into their version of the
firmware for the Netgear router to be open for them in order to remotely
upgrade/ interrogate.

What do people think about this?

"kraftee" <kraftee@b&e-cottee.me.uk> wrote in
news:etgp5h$8m8$(E-Mail Removed):

> Dave Boomhauer wrote:
>> How do Sky let you know if new versions of their own firmware
>> for the Netgear router they send are available?
>>
>> Do you install it yourself or do they do it
>> automatically....Hope the first one as sounds like they have
>> too much access to the equipement otherwise!
>
> I did ask about this in one of my many early phone calls & was
> told that they will upgrade the firmware remotely.
>
> Come the day when that happens be prepared for a nationwide
> uproar & wailing after many boxes fail the upload & go
> faulty....
>
Is the router on an intranet behind a proxy or NAT firewall? If not,
I wonder how secure the remote update process is...

"Dave Boomhauer" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
news:(E-Mail Removed):

>
> "kraftee" <kraftee@b&e-cottee.me.uk> wrote in message
> news:etgp5h$8m8$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Dave Boomhauer wrote:
>>> How do Sky let you know if new versions of their own firmware
>>> for the Netgear router they send are available?
>>>
>>> Do you install it yourself or do they do it
>>> automatically....Hope the first one as sounds like they have
>>> too much access to the equipement otherwise!
>>
>> I did ask about this in one of my many early phone calls & was
>> told that they will upgrade the firmware remotely.
>>
>> Come the day when that happens be prepared for a nationwide
>> uproar & wailing after many boxes fail the upload & go
>> faulty....
>>
>
> I'm concerned about this.
>
> On an unrelated matter I thought I'd scan ports on my XP machine
> here to see if any were open. Four TCP ports show up as open,
> but do not respond - I scratched my head and thought of
> Sky.....Whether right/ wrong or down right paranoid I came up
> with this.....
>
> Sky must have had certain ports programmed into their version of
> the firmware for the Netgear router to be open for them in order
> to remotely upgrade/ interrogate.
>
> What do people think about this?
>
Open ports on your PC aren't the issue. It is open ports on the
WAN-side of the router that would worry me, unless the WAN is a
private network firewalled from the Internet.

Dave Boomhauer wrote:

> "kraftee" <kraftee@b&e-cottee.me.uk> wrote
> > Dave Boomhauer wrote:
> >> How do Sky let you know if new versions of their own firmware for the
> >> Netgear router they send are available?
> >>
> >> Do you install it yourself or do they do it automatically....Hope the
> >> first one as sounds like they have too much access to the equipement
> >> otherwise!
> >
> > I did ask about this in one of my many early phone calls & was told that
> > they will upgrade the firmware remotely.
> >
> > Come the day when that happens be prepared for a nationwide uproar &
> > wailing after many boxes fail the upload & go faulty....
> >
>
> I'm concerned about this.
>
> On an unrelated matter I thought I'd scan ports on my XP machine here to see
> if any were open. Four TCP ports show up as open, but do not respond - I
> scratched my head and thought of Sky.....Whether right/ wrong or down right
> paranoid I came up with this.....
>
> Sky must have had certain ports programmed into their version of the
> firmware for the Netgear router to be open for them in order to remotely
> upgrade/ interrogate.
>
> What do people think about this?

Do you think MI6 agents are following you ?

Graham

Dave Boomhauer wrote:
> "kraftee" <kraftee@b&e-cottee.me.uk> wrote in message
> news:etgp5h$8m8$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Dave Boomhauer wrote:
>>> How do Sky let you know if new versions of their own firmware for
>>> the Netgear router they send are available?
>>>
>>> Do you install it yourself or do they do it automatically....Hope
>>> the first one as sounds like they have too much access to the
>>> equipement otherwise!
>>
>> I did ask about this in one of my many early phone calls & was told
>> that they will upgrade the firmware remotely.
>>
>> Come the day when that happens be prepared for a nationwide uproar &
>> wailing after many boxes fail the upload & go faulty....
>>
>
> I'm concerned about this.
>
> On an unrelated matter I thought I'd scan ports on my XP machine here
> to see if any were open. Four TCP ports show up as open, but do not
> respond - I scratched my head and thought of Sky.....Whether right/
> wrong or down right paranoid I came up with this.....
>
> Sky must have had certain ports programmed into their version of the
> firmware for the Netgear router to be open for them in order to
> remotely upgrade/ interrogate.
>
> What do people think about this?

If you check your router I'd be very suprised not to see it set to receive
Remote Management from a specific IP on port 8080. I turned it off as a
matter of principale when I first got mine, when I checked a few weeks later
it had been programed in again, but as I said, to a specific IP, not open to
all.

Twas one of the official reason given for locking us to that one specific
router..

Frazer Jolly Goodfellow wrote:
> "kraftee" <kraftee@b&e-cottee.me.uk> wrote in
> news:etgp5h$8m8$(E-Mail Removed):
>
>> Dave Boomhauer wrote:
>>> How do Sky let you know if new versions of their own firmware
>>> for the Netgear router they send are available?
>>>
>>> Do you install it yourself or do they do it
>>> automatically....Hope the first one as sounds like they have
>>> too much access to the equipement otherwise!
>>
>> I did ask about this in one of my many early phone calls & was
>> told that they will upgrade the firmware remotely.
>>
>> Come the day when that happens be prepared for a nationwide
>> uproar & wailing after many boxes fail the upload & go
>> faulty....
>>
> Is the router on an intranet behind a proxy or NAT firewall? If not,
> I wonder how secure the remote update process is...

Well as stated above I turn all remote management off as a matter of course.
With this router, when I next checked it had been turned back on (remotely
??) to allow remote management from a specific IP (which does trace back to
SKY) on port 8080.

I'm not to concerned as I've got all firewall functions turned off in the
router & have a FireBox between it & my LAN, but I can see why it could be a
cause for concern for anybody relying on the routers firewall as any hole
could be used to gain access if enough work is put into it.

for those worried about sky having access, you can reflash the router back
to original netgear firmware. This is a simple task, but not for those that
don't know the basics. Read ALL instructions before attempting. Once flashed
you can change any/all settings, also the router becomes useable with other
ISPs (i'm using one with pipex). i have been led to believe that the sky
firmware is on the cd which came with the router, so if anything goes wrong
you have a way to restore everything.
http://www.skyuser.co.uk/forum/sky-r...-password.html

good luck


"kraftee" <kraftee@b&e-cottee.me.uk> wrote in message
news:eth3le$uve$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Frazer Jolly Goodfellow wrote:
>> "kraftee" <kraftee@b&e-cottee.me.uk> wrote in
>> news:etgp5h$8m8$(E-Mail Removed):
>>
>>> Dave Boomhauer wrote:
>>>> How do Sky let you know if new versions of their own firmware
>>>> for the Netgear router they send are available?
>>>>
>>>> Do you install it yourself or do they do it
>>>> automatically....Hope the first one as sounds like they have
>>>> too much access to the equipement otherwise!
>>>
>>> I did ask about this in one of my many early phone calls & was
>>> told that they will upgrade the firmware remotely.
>>>
>>> Come the day when that happens be prepared for a nationwide
>>> uproar & wailing after many boxes fail the upload & go
>>> faulty....
>>>
>> Is the router on an intranet behind a proxy or NAT firewall? If not,
>> I wonder how secure the remote update process is...
>
> Well as stated above I turn all remote management off as a matter of
> course. With this router, when I next checked it had been turned back on
> (remotely ??) to allow remote management from a specific IP (which does
> trace back to SKY) on port 8080.
>
> I'm not to concerned as I've got all firewall functions turned off in the
> router & have a FireBox between it & my LAN, but I can see why it could be
> a cause for concern for anybody relying on the routers firewall as any
> hole could be used to gain access if enough work is put into it.
>

> Sky must have had certain ports programmed into their version of the
> firmware for the Netgear router to be open for them in order to remotely
> upgrade/ interrogate.
> What do people think about this?

I wonder if they could retrieve the logs remotely to see what sort of
files / traffic you've been sending through it...