ASUS Wi-Fi 6 routers are the first to earn the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore's top security rating
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ASUS Wi-Fi 6 routers are the first to earn the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore's top security rating
Two of ASUS' Wi-Fi 6 routers have earned the Level 4 rating from the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) under its Cybersecurity Labelling Scheme (CLS).
The two routers are the RT-AX88U and ROG Rapture GT-AX11000.
The CLS was launched by CSA (yes, government agencies love their abbreviations) in a bid to improve the security of networking and IoT devices.
Said to be the first initiative of its kind in the Asia-Pacific region, the scheme currently covers routers and smart home hubs and will be expanded to other devices in the future.
The scheme has four levels of rating and these are their requirements:
- Level 1 - The product meets basic security requirements such as ensuring unique default passwords and providing software updates.
- Level 2 - The product has been developed using the principles of Security-by-Design such as conducting threat risk assessment, critical design review and acceptance tests, and fulfilled Level 1 requirements.
- Level 3 - The product has undergone assessment of software binaries by approved third-party test labs, and fulfilled Level 2 requirements.
- Level 4 - The product has undergone structured penetration tests by approved third-party test labs and fulfilled Level 3 requirements.
To gain Level 4 certification, ASUS had to make certain security adjustments and they also had to tweak the initial setup processes – presumably to make sure people set proper passwords for their routers and networks.
Also, to be clear, just because a device has been awarded the Level 4 rating doesn't mean it is impervious to attacks. It just means that the device was tested by third-party tests labs and designed with security concepts in mind.
Still, it means that ASUS has enough confidence in its products to know that they will do well even when scrutinised by third-party tests labs.
To find out more about the RT-AX88U, read our review here.
To find out more about the ROG Rapture GT-AX11000, read our review here.
