Before DEF CON 22 started we published an article that the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) was going to host a very interesting competition called SOHOplessly broken. This competition was to features a large array of common SOHO (small office home office) routers and put them to the security test. As you might imagine the competition revealed that security is not the primary focus of this segment of the market. In all a total of 15 zero day vulnerabilities were uncovered during the competition in four common routers.

Since its introduction there has been something of an internal battle with wireless. On the one hand it is very convenient; you just connect to an access point and you have freedom as long as you are inside the network rand. On the other the speed is not always that great and, if the signal is too weak, you can end up dropping packets, files and losing data. Over the years there have been great improvements in wireless speed, but no matter what it has never been able to match the speed of a wired connection. At least it could not until 802.11ac wireless arrived on the scene. This new specification offers a theoretical limit of 1.3Gbps over a 5GHz wireless connection. We have already taken a look at a router and USB 2.0 adapter, now we are going to look at what happens when you put USB 3.0 into the mix with the TRENDNet TEW-805UB adapter.

In Mid-2011 it was revealed that many Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) devices were visible on the internet with a simple Google search. What was even more terrifying was that many of these devices still had the default username and password set and were visible in the search results. In 2009 someone with the same idea developed a search engine that was able to find connected devices as a service making it easier to find them and… exploit them. In January of 2012 a security flaw was found in the way that many (if not all) connected IP cameras operated. The flaw was originally found in a TRENDNet’s IP camera (a discontinued one) and it was a serious one.

When wireless networking was first introduced it was a very cool concept and people bought into it. The problem was that it was also about as slow as dial-up internet was. The good news is that all technologies advance and wireless was non exception. Once the idea caught on we quickly ramped up in speed, but wireless was never quite able to keep up with a wired connection. We saw these connections leap ahead by a factor of 10 while wireless had small incremental speed jumps. All of that changed in 2011 when researchers built up the next specification for wireless speed, 802.11ac. This speed increase more than doubled what wireless was able to do previously. Suddenly wireless was just as fast as a wired connection (in theory). We have a few routers and adapters in the lab and will be taking a look at them. Today we are going to show you the TRENDNet TEW-812DRU AC1750 dual band wireless router.

CES 2012 Las Vegas, Nevada – CES for us was not all booth babes and motherboards. We also wanted to stop by one of our long time partners TRENDNet and take a look at some of the new networking products they are going to have available to you in 2012.

TRENDnet® Megapixel Night Vision Outdoor Camera Now Available TORRANCE, Calif. -September 6, 2011-TRENDnet, a best-in-class wired and wireless networking hardware brand, today announces the availability of the SecurView Outdoor PoE Megapixel Day/Night Internet Camera, model TV-IP322P, which provides powerful Megapixel night vision in complete darkness for distances of up to 20 meters (66 feet). This camera is outdoor ready with an IP66 rated weather proof and vandal resistant enclosure. A wall/ceiling mounting bracket is included and a sun visor shields the camera from direct sunlight. No need to install this camera near an electrical outlet. Power and data are received through a single Ethernet cable using Power over Ethernet (PoE) technology-making it easy to install this camera in remote locations. Record crisp HD video with 1280 x 1024 pixel resolution and advanced H.264 image compression. Manage up to 32 TRENDnet cameras with the included complimentary SecurView camera management software. Advanced features include motion detection recording, email alerts, scheduled recording sessions, H.264/MPEG-4 image compression, 3GPP support, Samba client support, Input/Output ports to network to an alarm system, date-and-time text overlays, mask overlays to conceal sensitive areas, and digital zoom. TRENDnet's SecurView Mobile application allows users to view real time streaming video from SecurView Internet cameras on mobile devices. SecurView Mobile is free and works with network enabled Android, iPhone, iPod, or iPad devices. Simply search 'SecurView Mobile' on the respective application store. The SecurView Outdoor PoE Megapixel Day/Night Internet Camera, model TV-IP322P, comes with a three year limited warranty and is currently shipping to all online and retail partners. The MSRP for the TV-IP322P is U.S. $599.99. About TRENDnet TRENDnetis an award winning global brand, dedicated to providing a completeline of high quality yet affordable networking solutions for small tomid-sized business and home users alike. Founded in 1990, TRENDnetis headquartered in Torrance, California, and maintains branch officesin Europe, Central America, South America and Asia. TRENDnet productsare sold in over 125 countries. The TRENDnet brand is consistentlyrecognized for high quality, exceptional performance and unparalleledsupport. For more information visit www.trendnet.com or call  +1 (310) 961-5500.

TRENDnet® Launches Compact Powerline Adapter TORRANCE, Calif. -September 5, 2011- TRENDnet, a best-in-class wired and wireless networking hardware brand, demonstrates today from IFA Berlin the 200Mbps Compact Powerline AV Adapter, model TPL-306E, which connects computers and network enabled devices such as Internet televisions, NVRs, and game consoles to the Internet using existing electrical lines. Its small form factor saves space when plugged into a crowded electrical outlet. Network one adapter to a router and plug another adapter into any outlet on the same electrical system for instant high speed network access. TRENDnet adapters connect automatically to each other over a secure encrypted signal with no CD installation required. For additional security, press the Sync button to change existing encryption keys. LED displays convey device status for easy power management and troubleshooting. Embedded power saving technology lowers power consumption by up to 70% in standby mode-resulting in measurable power savings, given that the device is always on. The 200Mbps Compact Powerline AV Adapter, model TPL-306E, comes with a three year limited warranty and will be available from TRENDnet's online and retail partners this coming December. The MSRP for the TPL-306E is US $54.99 The 200Mbps Compact Powerline AV Adapter Kit, model TPL-306E2K, comes with two TPL-306E adapters, a three year limited warranty, and will be available from TRENDnet's online and retail partners this coming December. The MSRP for the TPL-306E2K is US $99.99 About TRENDnet TRENDnetis an award winning global brand, dedicated to providing a completeline of high quality yet affordable networking solutions for small tomid-sized business and home users alike. Founded in 1990, TRENDnetis headquartered in Torrance, California, and maintains branch officesin Europe, Central America, South America and Asia. TRENDnet productsare sold in over 125 countries. The TRENDnet brand is consistentlyrecognized for high quality, exceptional performance and unparalleledsupport. For more information visit www.trendnet.com or call +1 (310) 961-5500.

TRENDnet® Demonstrates First 500Mbps Powerline Adapter with Four Integrated Gigabit Ports TORRANCE, Calif. -September 2, 2011- TRENDnet, a best-in-class wired and wireless networking hardware brand, demonstrates today from IFA Berlin the first 4-Port 500Mbps Powerline AV Adapter, model TPL-405E, which features four Gigabit ports to connect all media center devices to a high speed 500Mbps Powerline network. New media center devices such as Internet televisions, NVRs, Receivers, and game consoles are now network ready-meaning that each device is capable of streaming large HD files directly from the Internet. TRENDnet's ground breaking 4-Port 500Mbps Powerline AV Adapter connects up to four media center devices to the Internet at the same time using existing electrical lines. Network one adapter to a router and plug another adapter into any outlet on the same electrical system for instant high speed network access. TRENDnet adapters connect automatically to each other over a secure encrypted signal with no CD installation required. For additional security, press the Sync button to change existing encryption keys. LED displays convey device status for easy power management and troubleshooting. Embedded power saving technology lowers power consumption by up to 70% in standby mode-resulting in measurable power savings, given that the device is always on. "Network ready Internet televisions now make up to 50% of total television sales in select markets," stated Sonny Su, Director of Technology for TRENDnet. "The need to connect multiple media center devices to the Internet is already here and we are excited to be able to bring compelling Powerline solutions to market." The 4-Port 500Mbps Powerline AV Adapter, model TPL-405E, comes with a three year limited warranty and will be available from TRENDnet's online and retail partners this coming December. The MSRP for the TPL-405E is US $109.99 About TRENDnet TRENDnetis an award winning global brand, dedicated to providing a completeline of high quality yet affordable networking solutions for small tomid-sized business and home users alike. Founded in 1990, TRENDnetis headquartered in Torrance, California, and maintains branch officesin Europe, Central America, South America and Asia. TRENDnet productsare sold in over 125 countries. The TRENDnet brand is consistentlyrecognized for high quality, exceptional performance and unparalleledsupport. For more information visit www.trendnet.com or call +1 (310) 961-5500.

One of the nice things about the latest generation of the 802.11 wireless specification (802.11n) is that there is a lot of headroom available in it before there is a need to move to a new generation. When 802.11n first hit the market it was limited to around 150Mbps. This was due to quite a few factors, most notable of these was the use of spatial streams (breaking the signal into separate streams and reassembling them in proper order at the far end. Once this was combined with MIMO (Multiple In Multiple Out) things really took off. Now we are hitting the upper edge of the 802.11n spectrum with the 450Mbps routers and adapters. This new line is getting up there and finally pushing the upper limits of what you can do with this latest revision of the 802.11 protocol. We have another one of TRENDNet’s 450Mbps wireless routers in the lab. This time it is the TEW-692GR a 450Mbps concurrent dual band gaming router with a price tag of around $135. So follow along as we find out if this is really worth your time and money.

The launch of the 450Mbps segment of the 802.11n specification was sort of backwards. We saw some of the first routers last year in the September – October time frame. Then at CES we got our first glimpse of one of the new 450Mbps wireless adapters. This was the TRENDNet TEW-687GA that we just finished testing. But we are not going to stop there as we have another 450Mbps adapter from TRENDNet in the lab. This one is more PC specific and connects over USB 2.0. You lose the universal appeal that the 687GA had but gain more on portability. So let’s introduce the TRENDNet TEW-684UB 450Mbps Dual Band USB wireless adapter.