Security of Hybrid Connect

[campbela]

Does anyone know what the security implications are of NOT plugging the hybrid Connect directly into the Smart Hub Plus?

We dont have a great mobile signal in our house so I have been experimenting with various locations for the Hybrid Connect device.

Initially I had it next to the Smart Hub Plus and plugged directly into one of its ethernet ports.  The signal flips between poor (1 bar) and good (2 bar).

I now have it upstairs at the front of the house but get the same result.  My mobile phone shows a better signal upstairs at the back so was thinking of relocating it there.

The whole house is wired with ethernet back to a central 48 port switch which handles all of the (green) network traffic.  Plugging the Hybrid Connect into any of the house ethernet ports is essentially plugging it into our home (green) network.  The Smart Hub Plus is connected to our home (green) network via its 4 port built in hub/switch.

Is there any difference between plugging the Hybrid Connect directly into the Smart Hub Plus' hub/switch or plugging it into my 48 port switch?

Does the Smart Hub Plus recognise that its the Hybrid Connect plugged into one of its ports and segregate the traffic from it, treating it differently/more securely than if, say, I plugged a laptop into one of its ports?

If the answer is yes, it knows its the Hybrid Connect plugged into one of its ports then I can just change the cabling on the patch panel to bypass the 48 port switch and go directly to the Smart Hub Plus.  Just wasnt sure if it was actually needed.

Thanks

[garywood84]

@campbela I can't see any reason why it would make a difference. Ultimately, your Hybrid Connect device is still connected to the Smart Hub; the only difference is that it's connected through a network switch. How far away from the hub it is isn't really relevant. 

Do you have an EE mobile account? With the new unlimited data that you'll get on your phone as a "New" EE customer, isn't hybrid connect pretty redundant? Your fibre connection shouldn't be so unreliable that you use the hybrid connect very often at all, and in the event that your line really does go down, you can just use your mobile as  hotspot...

[campbela]

I was curious as to how the Smart Hub Plus' firewall settings etc would work in situations where the fibre connection went down. 

When using the Smart Hub Plus, traffic is arriving on its WAN port and being routed through to the 4 port internal hub with the firewall sitting between this, so only "safe" traffic makes it through to the internal network.

When the fibre connection goes down the WAN port isnt being used.  The "unsafe" internet traffic is now coming from the Hybrid Connect which is now being routed through my internal network to the Smart Hub Plus.

I was wondering if this is a security risk.  There might be some "smart" stuff going on between the Smart Hub Plus and the Hybrid Connect that mitigates this (VLAN or something). I just couldnt find any info about it.

Yes, I have an EE mobile account too.  I didnt realise that I could get unlimited data until after I had signed up.  To be honest I wasnt planning on switching from BT to EE.  I only called BT to see if they would drop my monthly price to what was being offered to new customers, which they could, but by switching to EE.

I work from home (IT) so having the Hybrid Connect is an ideal backup for me with limited downtime (a few mins to switch from what I have heard).  Most of my devices are ethernet so a hotspot on my phone would be of limited use but another option if my backup (Hybrid Connect) also failed 😀.  I have been on fibre connection for a few years now and havent had any significant outages but if one does happen then I would have to travel to my nearest office which is in London which would be a bit of a grind!

[garywood84]

@campbela Interesting. I hadn't thought about the security implications of having the gateway inside your internal network. I'd solve that problem with a mini-router like this: www.tp-link.com/uk/home-networking/wifi-router/tl-wr902ac. You can configure the firewall and connect it to your phone's hotspot, so that it enables sharing of the phones hotspot with your whole network. That way, you'll have a quicker failover (as long as it takes you to activate the hotspot) and still keep your network behind a firewall. The bonus is, you're not paying £8 a month to EE to a service you'll hardly ever use.