The "S" in HTTPS stands for "Secure" which means the data is encrypted.
Any internet communications can be encrypted but, in this particular
case (router setup), AFAIK, it only has to do with the communications
between your computer and the router. The setting is unimportant if
your own local network is just your house and you have a wired
connection. If you have a wireless connection then someone could
conceivably monitor your communications by parking some wi-fi device
near enough to your house to pick up the signal. In that case you may
want to use HTTPS.
Be aware that, if you do change it from HTTP to HTTPS, the next time you
try to use the internet your browser may nag at you about the
possibility of your router being an imposter. When HTTPS is employed
the two communicating parties exchange verification certificates and
Firefox claims that it doesn't know about the Cisco (mfgr) certificate
that gets presented by the LinkSys router. You may have to tell your
browser to accept the unverified connection as valid and to make and
remember this as an exception.
My understanding of all this encryption protocol is vague at best. If
I've made any errors here I hope someone will correct me soon. :-)
ps: Your router is its own website. You have to log on and then your
be presented with a bunch of configuration menus. You talk to it by
connecting to its URL which will be *something* like HTTP://192.168.1.1
and the other computers, printers, etc. connected to that router will
vary by the digits following the third period. eg: Your computer might
be 192.168.1.2 and the printer 192.168.1.3. If using secure
communications the URL will start out HTTPS://
Chuck Norcutt
On 2/18/2014 10:35 AM, Charles Geilfuss wrote:
> Thanks, Chuck, that is helpful. Unfortunately just one more #@&%$*@ thing
> to worry about from the internet. One question: what is the difference
> between the HTTP and the HTTPS he mentions about half way down the page?
> And should the latter be checked?
>
> Thanks,
> Charlie
>
>
> On Tue, Feb 18, 2014 at 8:59 AM, Chuck Norcutt <
> chucknorcutt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>> I ran across this article this morning having to do with a router worm
>> on certain Linksys routers. If it's infecting your router it may cause
>> bad performance. My own Linksys router wasn't one of the susceptible
>> model numbers but I decided I'd better go check to see if there were any
>> other firmware updates for my own model number (WRT54GL v1.1). In fact
>> there have been more than 1/2 dozen updates since my routher was new
>> (3-4 years ago)... for fixing other things I'd never heard of. Moral of
>> the story is that your router can be vulnerable to malware as well and
>> it doesn't matter what OS you're running since the router is out there
>> ahead of your computer. You might want to check the website for your
>> own brand/model of router.
>>
>> The Moon router worm. Your anti-virus won't protect you
>> <http://grahamcluley.com/2014/02/moon-router-worm/>
>>
>> Chuck Norcutt
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