myQnap Cloud and Security - opinions

[verstaerker]

Hi

as I'm having some trouble with malware on my good old Ts-439 with firmware 4.2.6 . After removing the malware-error reappears quickly after I enabled cloud-services and opened the necessary port(s).

I heard from a few people to not use the Qnap Services at all and only use VPN.
But the Qnap service is so easy to use and it kind of feels secure with 2FA, secure system password.

How is your general opinion - can the Qnap service be used securely (maybe with some special tricks or settings) or do you also recommend not to use it ?

[dolbyman]

the QNAP service side is not the issue .. it's your NAS.

You are exposing a device that is only getting limited firmware updates till end of 2020 on a firmware that has been compromised time and time again (not that current devices would be more secure)

Just run a VPN and connect that way.

I fail to see how clicking once on your phone/tablet/laptop to establish the VPN connection is that much of a hassle .. even compared to whatever 2FA method your are using (extra steps involved here too)

[verstaerker]

I tried using VPN...
1. it's not that easy. While setting it up on a my desktop-computers was simple it was tricky on the iDevices .. because natively iOs doesn't support the offered VPN method (PPTP) - the offered openVPN server was probably to old so it was tricky to establish a connection using the openVPN app. (and less secure )

2. it was really slow... almost 10 times slower compared to the normal connection. I tested for 2 days several optimizations without any success.

So at the end I gave up because of the slowness. But I learned just today that there are dedicated VPN routers that could help having a greater speed. However those are costly and also not so easy to setup from what I read.

(not that current devices would be more secure)

well, that is an answer ....

[dolbyman]

1a. the desktop computers .. are they in the same network as the NAS ? .. then why use a VPN ?
1b. PPTP is outdated, use IPSEC or OpenVPN (google shows lots of guides for IOS)

2. I use a ASUS AC86U router, it has a dual core CPU (ARM) with dedicated crypto accelerator, the speed is more than sufficient for my needs (300Mbit/s per tunnel symmetrical on openVPN) and it costs around 150 USD. The setup is easy.

The QNAP system is safe when only used for DDNS with a VPN.

[verstaerker]

1a. the desktop computers .. are they in the same network as the NAS ? .. then why use a VPN ?
1b. PPTP is outdated, use IPSEC or OpenVPN (google shows lots of guides for IOS)

2. I use a ASUS AC86U router, it has a dual core CPU (ARM) with dedicated crypto accelerator, the speed is more than sufficient for my needs (300Mbit/s per tunnel symmetrical on openVPN) and it costs around 150 USD. The setup is easy.

The QNAP system is safe when only used for DDNS with a VPN.

1a) nope 2 are not ,the one wich is the same LAN is no issue and no reason for VPN of course
1b) I know.. but that's what my NAS offers me ... and I read many oh so easy descriptions how to setup open VPN on iOs.. it's not working for me (I guess the openVPN server on my NAS is very old - it's always missing a key or s (sorry I might not remember correctly right now))


2) thanks - I'll look into that ... I would be happy with 50-100 mbit and 150€ costs are more than okay
2a) do you know maybe if a Unify Secure Gateway is also good as an VPN Router?

[dolbyman]

no idea if the unify system good or fast

here is a howto
https://help.ubnt.com/hc/en-us/articles ... Access-VPN

for your desktops at another location, do a dedicated site2site VPN
I use an old draytek 2900 router for an IPSEC tunnel, that my sister can use to access Canadian netflix (etc) from Germany .. works great (peering speed between here and 1&1 in Germany is pretty bad but it's enough for netflix)

[verstaerker]

no idea if the unify system good or fast

did a bit of googling and found out that
https://community.ui.com/questions/USG- ... 4e5?page=5

to make it short:
VPN speed is low (10-12mbit) .. so I will check the mentioned Asus router

Thanks for your input!