Is using a used switch dangerous for me?
Is using a used switch dangerous for me?
I know this might sound weird to you but I just bought a managed switch from HP called the J9979A at a low price. If that's safe, usually when I get a used computer I would wipe out the hard drive and start fresh. But here, all I can do is reset it back to factory settings and upgrade the latest firmware and hope for the best. Is there any way to tell if it has malware or if someone tampered with it?
You should check before you buy things. When you ask this question, it is possible that there might be security problems which makes the switch sold off or maybe the networking stuff was changed because a problem couldn't be fixed or they needed something different for their network. I would look at the switch's details and see if there is a list of all security fixes with new software versions (if any exist).
That switch doesn't have a special program attached, so all the software and firmware are already built right into the chips when they come out of the factory. Most people use ASICs instead of real CPUs for this, which means you have to swap out chips if you want to change how things work. I hope you got the switches with that free or maybe only $5 worth. You can buy brand new 8-port switches online for around $20 plus, and it gets cheaper if you use lesser-known brands too. Even if you just used a regular switch back home, you could add commercial software to it so they would let you control their programs from them. These devices cost way more money every year to keep the software updated, so they don't want anyone messing around with making their own stuff. Because of that, getting updates for these specific gadgets is almost impossible unless you want to do a factory reset. That just wipes all your settings and configurations away. It's not really about viruses or malware, mostly because chances are high you won't be using the same networks or settings in exactly the same way next time.