Why does SKY not allow customers to use VPN's on SKY Q Routers?

[philipblair]

Can someone please expalin why SKY does not allow customers to use a VPN on SKY Q Routers, please?  Surely anything that increases the security for individual customers is a good thing for everyone.  ISP's, governments and it seems at times the world and it's brother are telling us to make sure that we protect our identity, finacial information, personal information, protect ourselves from scams, phishing etc and yet SKY for whatever reason do not allow customers who are paying for the service to have the option of using a VPN in order to have an added layer of protection for all the reasons above.

I have my VPN installed on all my devices but my router which is the gateway into my home network is left unprotected and at the same time my SKY Q boxes and Smart TV are left wide open and vulnerable to hackers, scammer, phishers and the other pond life out there.

Hopefully someone from SKY will take the time to reply to this question, even though it is a Community Site, but given that direct communication with SKY in what is probably the easiest age to communicate with each other, SKY seem intent on not engaging directly with customers via online options.

[daveNOS]

@philipblair Sky like most other mass market domestic ISP's provide a basic router that any customer can use easily and so the support needed is minimal, there is nothing stopping you buying a router that can be configured with a VPN if you feel it's necessary.

[JPR007]

@philipblair You don't need to use a VPN for every single device you use unless there is sensitive or security requirements attached with it. Sometimes it can actually cause problems and harm performance. 

All your devices are not "wide open" as the router has at least a basic firewall which controls connections in and out so your devices are not as exposed as you seem to think.

Often the biggest weak link is the end user themselves and being duped into scams and phishing attacks. 

Devices such as Sky Q boxes and Smart TVs run bespoke, closed down operating systems, which would take more concise knowledge to expose as they don't have open access, and any such attempts to hack them would hardly prove fruitful with any data for any hacker if they could be bothered.

They don't all run like Windows with open kernel privileges and such like. It's similar to Apple vs Android with devices. I see so many people using "security software" on iOS, but the truth is it can't really do much, because of the way the operating system is locked down. On android however, it is far more open so such software is necessary on that platform. 

[TimmyBGood]

@philipblair 

I'm not aware of any sizeable UK ISP that supplies a router capable of hosting a VPN endpoint: certainly none of the other 'big four' alongside Sky do (BT/Virgin/TalkTalk with 25 million subscribers between them). However they all (currently) permit VPN software clients on connected devices to transit their networks.

Worth noting that governments are distinctly ambivalent regarding VPNs, as they circumvent both mandatory filtering and routine data gathering.

It's incredibly unlikely that 'hackers, scammer, phishers and the other pond life out there' are the slightest bit interested in your 'SKY Q boxes and Smart TV' as there's zero financial reward involved...

[simon194]

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@TimmyBGood wrote:

It's incredibly unlikely that 'hackers, scammer, phishers and the other pond life out there' are the slightest bit interested in your 'SKY Q boxes and Smart TV' as there's zero financial reward involved...

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When it comes to botnet attacks, Samsung connected refrigerators and various brands of smart TV's were quite popular a few years ago for repurposing without their owners realising. This prompted LG and others to start including security software in the firmware of their smart TV's and other connected products.

[TimmyBGood]

@simon194 

All the bad guys have moved onto demanding ransoms for releasing encrypted files: there's no money in DDOS any more ; )

[jamesn123]

@philipblair 

Its also worth noting that VPNs are not the god of all network security tools. They only do so much and a user needs to still be intelligent when using the internet to avoid anything scam related. A VPN will not directly protect you from Scams, phishing attempts etc.

[philipblair]

Thanks to everyone for the fantastic responses and information.  They say everyday is a learning day and today has definitely been a learning day. 

👍👍👍

[simmondsg]

I am not sure of your exact setup but I have Sky Fibre Broadband and I am currently using a VPN Box with its own wifi connection (  PyramidWifi ) plugged into the SKY Router Lan, It works absolutely fine and does exactly what it is supposed to do, I have also used liberty shield VPN with the same SKY Router and that also works really well, any of the above devices can be purchased from Amazon, I cannot confirm if these devices will work on earlier Sky Broadband Routers but both these VPN devices work on the most recent Broadband router that Sky provides its customers with, I cannot also be certain if the Sky Q box will work through a VPN, Regardless of where you live the best way would be just to try it out and select a UK Server and see what happens, you can buy one of theses devices for less than £20 so no big loss if it doesn't do what you want it to, In my case, i have it purely for watching IPTV from the states and nordic countries and it does the job.

[TimmyBGood]

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@simmondsg wrote:

I am not sure of your exact setup

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@philipblair appears to have been asking for an VPN endpoint on the Hub itself, which as we pointed out isn't realistic for ISP-supplied hardware.  As you've discovered, separate VPN hardware should work fine.

[pugus1]

I still think it would be a good idea for the router to start being able to use a vpn internally as more and more children, women and other vulnerable people are on the Internet alone. And they probably won't know, my wife doesn't!

I found this thread after having to search for a fix for my wife being harassed/stalked some how while playing GTA5 online. The story she told me sounded like she was hacked or something.

I have listened to most security podcasts, dark net diaries, malicious life, hackable and instantly thought of a hack of some kind. 

Someone above said there is no money in DDOS anymore, DDOS really wasn't used for that in my eyes. It was used to annoy/harass/intimidate. How can you make money from someone when they can't get on the Internet to know they need to pay something/someone 🤔 

Either the router provider should be forced into better protection or game/online creators of stuff should be.

[JPR007]

@pugus1 I don't think you've quite understood what a VPN is or what it does. It is far from a one stop solution either. The best security and protection is multi layered.

A VPN in itself will do absolutely nothing to protect children, women and vulnerable people, it is merely a method of securing a connection for transferring data from one point to another. It doesn't differentiate what data goes down it, someone could still hack the actual end device if they have the right information/desire even if using a VPN, they just can't see the data flowing through the VPN connection.

It won't protect you from a DDOS attack either. 

Im afraid with security, there is a fair amount of onus on the end user, you can't just force and put responsibility on an ISP for what an end user does, whether people like it or not. That would be the same as laying blame/liability at car manufacturers for accidents that the people who bought them might have. 

[daveNOS]

@pugus1 There is nothing stopping you from buying a router that can have a VPN configured through it, ISP's and gaming companies are not soley responsible for customers safety online you have to take the majority of responsibilty yourself.

[jamesn123]

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@pugus1 wrote:

I still think it would be a good idea for the router to start being able to use a vpn internally as more and more children, women

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Slightly sexist dont you think? I know quite a few women who are much more tech savvy than their counterparts 

[pugus1]

No I don't. How would you have phrased the point then? This is where conflict starts with how you insinuated my being sexist with a statement. How do you address the opposite sex? 

This is why I don't usually post online. Very sad