Questions regarding our router's defense and protection against intrusion - Hardware & Software

My step-father is the CEO of this company and wants me to shut down our router during the night to stop hackers (though I don't know why just specifically during the night, they can still hack/packet-sniff during the day, no?). I'd like help with finding some concrete evidence that it's not possible to hack into his computer (which is off most of the day, even more so during the night) or simply bolster our network's defense against supposedly intrusion. Thanks in advance. Edit: Apparently he doesn't shut off his computer ever, I'll ask him about it.

[QUOTE=Haxxer;30899066]My step-father is the CEO of this company and wants me to shut down our router during the night to stop hackers (though I don't know why just specifically during the night, they can still hack/packet-sniff during the day, no?). I'd like help with finding some concrete evidence that it's not possible to hack into his computer (which is off most of the day, even more so during the night) or simply bolster our network's defense against supposedly intrusion. Thanks in advance. Edit: Apparently he doesn't shut off his computer ever, I'll ask him about it.[/QUOTE] Buy a light timer and hook the router to the mains through that. Set it to turn off during night. Senile old man is happy. The bill is in the mail.

[QUOTE=Van-man;30899263]Buy a light timer and hook the router to the mains through that. Set it to turn off during night. Senile old man is happy. The bill is in the mail.[/QUOTE] Thing is that I'm online then

[QUOTE=Haxxer;30899351]Thing is that I'm online then[/QUOTE] Well you COULD get a decent hardware-based firewall to calm down his paranoia. Does he host anything related to his work from home?? Tried telling him to get a decent VPN to prevent packet sniffing??

[QUOTE=Van-man;30899409]Well you COULD get a decent hardware-based firewall to calm down his paranoia. Does he host anything related to his work from home?? Tried telling him to get a decent VPN to prevent packet sniffing??[/QUOTE] He's the average CEO nowadays, aka totally technology illiterate.

Tell him he's a fucking dumbass until he finally gets it. Change your password on your modem/router/combo/whatever to something that doesn't suck, if you can change the username, change it and check Google if there are known vulnerabilities in the software of your whatever.

[QUOTE=Haxxer;30899446]He's the average CEO nowadays, aka totally technology illiterate.[/QUOTE] Though so. It'll be a uphill battle trying to explain security to him. Though a decent VPN connection from his home computer to his company network would probably be a solution, if he does anything related to work from his home computer.

[QUOTE=nikomo;30899488]Tell him he's a fucking dumbass until he finally gets it. Change your password on your modem/router/combo/whatever to something that doesn't suck, if you can change the username, change it and check Google if there are known vulnerabilities in the software of your whatever.[/QUOTE] Like that's going to work, any parent, at all, hates to be proven wrong by their kids, especially when their a CEO of a company and your just a kid. Use a VPN or such, why is worried about hackers? No doubt word of this LulzSec bushiness has him worried, why does he have on his computer that hes worried about (unless he stores all his credit details on his harddrive)? Do you have separate computers? if you do assure him he has nothing worry about if its turned off and unplugged from the modem, the gain from bypassing someones router would have little to gain, its backdoor shit he should be worried about, if its the same computer tell him to back it all up on an external etc. if hes gonna get hacked hes not going to get fucked over, unless he has really sensitive information on his harddrive, no doubt his password is password too. Should try telling him if you has anything to loose it would no doubt be the websites hes been visiting (or you have) and that its a higher possibility of being picked on online than out of the blue, unless he goes around online pointing out that hes a CEO and makes him computer known etc.

[QUOTE=ZeroMinus;30902024]Like that's going to work, any parent, at all, hates to be proven wrong by their kids, especially when their a CEO of a company and your just a kid. Use a VPN or such, why is worried about hackers? No doubt word of this LulzSec bushiness has him worried, why does he have on his computer that hes worried about (unless he stores all his credit details on his harddrive)? Do you have separate computers? if you do assure him he has nothing worry about if its turned off and unplugged from the modem, the gain from bypassing someones router would have little to gain, its backdoor shit he should be worried about, if its the same computer tell him to back it all up on an external etc. if hes gonna get hacked hes not going to get fucked over, unless he has really sensitive information on his harddrive, no doubt his password is password too. Should try telling him if you has anything to loose it would no doubt be the websites hes been visiting (or you have) and that its a higher possibility of being picked on online than out of the blue, unless he goes around online pointing out that hes a CEO and makes him computer known etc.[/QUOTE] This is the gist of it. I tried discussing (at least I kept it civil, I'm no so sure about him) it with him but he kept falling back on his security manager telling him to shut it off. So it's basically my word against a 'professional', nice.

[QUOTE=Haxxer;30903069]This is the gist of it. I tried discussing (at least I kept it civil, I'm no so sure about him) it with him but he kept falling back on his security manager telling him to shut it off. So it's basically my word against a 'professional', nice.[/QUOTE] Try asking him what his security manager says about using your modem on nights - what security steps he should take if he wanted to work late or needed to check his mail before going to sleep - it might make his security manager give a list of options and it could result in you using it on the nights, your step-dad might say, yeah sure, if you follow these rules set by him etc. or at least make him give you some slack

If he's a CEO, shouldn't he be asking his company's tech people about this?

[QUOTE=gman003-main;30904059]If he's a CEO, shouldn't he be asking his company's tech people about this?[/QUOTE] His network security manager is basically his only computer tech guy. [QUOTE=ZeroMinus;30903807]Try asking him what his security manager says about using your modem on nights - what security steps he should take if he wanted to work late or needed to check his mail before going to sleep - it might make his security manager give a list of options and it could result in you using it on the nights, your step-dad might say, yeah sure, if you follow these rules set by him etc. or at least make him give you some slack[/QUOTE] I can't, since I don't have his phone number and my step-dad works away from home.

[QUOTE=Haxxer;30909986]His network security manager is basically his only computer tech guy. I can't, since I don't have his phone number and my step-dad works away from home.[/QUOTE] Aww you could have just kept on using the modem and said the message he sent didn't come through properly and you didn't understand what he meant and you couldn't contact him back as you don't know his number and hes away from work - unless you had an indepth conversation, if hes away from the house just the modem - how would he know otherwise?

[QUOTE=ZeroMinus;30910279]Aww you could have just kept on using the modem and said the message he sent didn't come through properly and you didn't understand what he meant and you couldn't contact him back as you don't know his number and hes away from work - unless you had an indepth conversation, if hes away from the house just the modem - how would he know otherwise?[/QUOTE] What message? He's home now, because it's his semester.

Why do you care about having to turn off your router overnight? I turn off my PC, router, etc. every night

[QUOTE=Darkimmortal;30910656]Why do you care about having to turn off your router overnight? I turn off my PC, router, etc. every night[/QUOTE] Guess OP wants some "private time" with his dear internet connection in the middle of the night.

[QUOTE=gman003-main;30904059]If he's a CEO, shouldn't he be asking his company's tech people about this?[/QUOTE] If he's anything like my boss, he probably treats them like shit already.

Lmao my boss used to turn all the servers off at night time. It was causing all kinds of havoc with the filesystem as they didn't shut them down properly :v: Luckily I was employed.

WPA2-PSK encryption on the network, ultra long complex password, that'll stop local attacks. Set up a hardware and software firewall on the network and make them as secure as possible. VPN connection to his work computer. Could even go to the extent of a VPS+VPN combo.

[QUOTE=Van-man;30899409]Well you COULD get a decent hardware-based firewall to calm down his paranoia. Does he host anything related to his work from home?? Tried telling him to get a decent VPN to prevent packet sniffing??[/QUOTE] A router IS a hardware-based firewall. As long as no ports are forwarded and upnp is disabled (as it should be in a corporate environment) it's perfectly safe to leave it on

[QUOTE=Zeke129;30954161]A router IS a hardware-based firewall.[/QUOTE] I know, hence why I said DECENT.