[xubuntu] Using a USB attached to a router - is it really fraught with danger?

Well...yes, if you don't know what you are doing, you could easily expose your data to risk by putting it on your router.

But there are safe ways to do it.

First of all, don't use FTP. Or at least, use SFTP (secure FTP) or ssh.

I have one router at a relative's house and use it to back up data remotely, using a flash drive in the router's USB port. The way I secure it is to open up the router to ssh login over the WAN but require certificates and disable password login. So you can't coect to it remotely without the right certificate. I suppose nothing is 100% secure, because there are always zero day vulnerabilities that aren't well known and not patched, but this is pretty secure, and I doubt I am a specific target - only a target to drive-bys who check for open servers that aren't secured.

To access my own data remotely, I use a VPN on my home network. The VPN runs on my router, and I have my data on a server on my home network. I can coect to the VPN and wake up the server remotely. Then I can either access it via ssh or coect to the display using VNC. My VPN uses certificates not passwords so, again, should be pretty secure.

I also use open source firmware on my routers. I prefer Tomato firmware, which runs on your RT-AC68U if you want it. Tomato has features built in to enable remote ssh, and I would certainly do that (with certificates) instead of the old, ancient non-encrypted FTP protocol.

Note that flashing your router firmware can be dangerous (it could brick your router if you mess it up) - it's a major thing you are doing, though I've done it dozens of times on different routers. Usually it's easy, but you need to proceed carefully and be aware of what you are doing. Here's a guide to flashing yours using an Asus utility that seems to run on Windows - probably a way to do it via Linux, but usually I can flash without using any utility. I prefer the Shibby flavor of Tomato firmware:

http://www.shadowandy.net/2014/03/as...b-rt-ac68u.htm

Tomato adds some sweet features such as VPN, file sharing from USB drives, etc.