The “Break it Down” Blog

D-Link, in an attempt to ship a new security service in their routers (Secure Spot) has inadvertently included behavior in their v1.21 firmware update for the D-Link DIR-655 that more or less hijacks your DNS requests and redirects you to a software subscription page (for the Secure Spot service).

The idea behind Secure Spot is to improve security by collaborating with your anti-virus and anti-spyware software, keeping you safe. Unfortunately, the way it does this is intrusive, confusing and I have to imagine purposefully misleading (e.g. you type in “google.com” and get a sign-up page for security services). This reeks of those popups you get online “You have a virus, click OK to remove it”.

Maybe next time D-Link wants to roll out a for-pay service, they do it with notifications or emails, not DNS redirects.

D-Link now has a download available for the 1.21 firmware update that does not include Secure Spot. I think the fact that they had to cut a separate build of the firmware without the new feature says something about either the new feature, or how it’s implemented.

Thanks Slashdot!