Last Updated on August 14, 2016 by Dave Farquhar
Tom Gatermann told me he succeeded in disabling WPS by upgrading his Linksys router–I didn’t ask what model and probably shouldn’t post that anyway–with DD-WRT.
Explicitly disabling WPS in DD-WRT is unnecessary because DD-WRT doesn’t implement WPS at all–which is a good thing. There’s no setting to look for, it’s just automatic.
Linksys routers are known to have a setting to disable WPS, but I’ve read several accounts stating the setting doesn’t actually do anything–WPS stays enabled. So loading aftermarket firmware is the best fix available.
DD-WRT also gives you some other good features, like creating VLANs. Want your web server on a different VLAN? You can do that. Want your wireless clients on a different VLAN, to protect the rest of your network in case a warwalker or wardriver manages to get in? You can do that.
VLANs are an option as long as your router has a Broadcom chipset in it, which all Linksys routers do.
What’s a VLAN? Splitting a switch into multiple networks for improved security and (sometimes) performance. Enterprise switches do that; DD-WRT lets you bring that capability to your home network too.
David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He started his career as a part-time computer technician in 1994, worked his way up to system administrator by 1997, and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He invests in real estate on the side and his hobbies include O gauge trains, baseball cards, and retro computers and video games. A University of Missouri graduate, he holds CISSP and Security+ certifications. He lives in St. Louis with his family.