Link to home
Start Free TrialLog in
Avatar of wfcrr
wfcrrFlag for United States of America

asked on

2 routers, one cable modem

I have a home office running a LAN on a Netgear router hooked up to a cable modem for internet.  My wife is wanting to do a lot of home automation stuff that requires connecting devices to a router.  I assume hooking it to our Netgear router might create some vulnerabilities?  If that is right, would it be better to use a 2nd router for the home automation stuff, and I do that, how can I hook it up?  Do I "bridge" it from the Netgear router?  Trying to avoid paying cable company for a 2nd line/modem.
SOLUTION
Avatar of John
John
Flag of Canada image

Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
Avatar of wfcrr

ASKER

Does bridging to another router make it more secure than just using the one router?  Wife is wanting to add devices that control garage door openers and control the house lights and house door locks.  At this time we only device to manage the garage door openers.  I have the wifi thing-a-majigs that came with the garage door opener that allow an iPhone to open the garage door. The wifi thing-a-majig goes Ethernet to the router and when wife uses iPhone app to tell the garage door to open, it is doing so by sending the request to the router to tell the thing-a-majig to send a wifi signal to garage door opener.  I am trying to think how that is a security risk and whether having that run through a separate router reduces the risk.
Security is the same in the way I described. It does not increase or lessen security. You need to secure the Wireless settings with strong passwords and AES security. You then will not have any issues.

I do the very same thing with a Cisco Wireless Router that services my laptop and our two iPhones.
Avatar of McKnife
What are you afraid of? Someone hacking in through your garage door opener to your router to your pc?

Does this occur likely? No.
Adding a second router won't change much. What would be more beneficial is to do a little research on existing vulnerabilities for your current router and upgrade if necessary or even replace it with a newer and less vulnerable product.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
Avatar of wfcrr

ASKER

@smkeown777 Ultimate aim is to reduce vulnerability of the business network from any hacks that might come through the home automation stuff.  If it is not feasible to attack the business network through the home automation stuff, I am fine with hooking all that stuff up through our business LAN.

But, if it is safer to use a second router for all the home automation stuff, then lets do that.

Business is on the Netgear router.
If I use a second router for the home automation stuff, that will be a Cisco router.

More concerned about business being safe, less concerned about wife home automation stuff being safe, as I figure houses are easy to get into, you kick a door in and you're in.  More concerned with cyber security of the business network. What I don't really understand, like McKnife said, is if it is just plain dumb to think someone can hack into business network using the garage door opener, or using the front door lock or the Doorbell "Ring" thing.
With one internet line and two routers, security is fine so long as you follow ordinary security practices. Adding a router as proposed does not cause excessive risk.
Avatar of wfcrr

ASKER

@John, wondering if adding the second router is pointless, or un-necessary.
It is up to you. I use a main Cisco VPN router and I added a Cisco Wi-Fi router and security is excellent.

I could have done everything with the Cisco Wi-Fi if I had so chosen.