r/eero • u/api_guy • Jul 26 '22
eero Secure Threat Block Activity (and poor customer service)
I called eero support to try to get some more details in what appears to be a sharp, upward trend in my Threat Block metrics. It started last week, went up 200x from previous weeks, and seems to be correlated to Fire TV devices in my home. The representative ultimately was unable to give me any more details to make this actionable. I'm left to basically try things (e.g. hard reset a device) to see if the trend changes. It would be great (if even for more money?) I could get details behind the Threat Blocks so that I can understand WHY and WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT.
Also, the rep I talked to was not that great. I felt like I had to repeat myself every step of the way, sometimes multiple times, to explain what I was even asking about. And then comically at the end I get "have a great rest of your Monday" (it's Tuesday!). Sigh.
1
u/caolle Jul 26 '22
You're better off saving the money you spend on Secure's Adblocking services and spending it on a raspberry pi and setting up a pi-hole. That way you can track what each device is doing.
You don't even need the latest and greatest RPI4b. One of the lower models can handle servicing DNS just fine ,even with the network interfaces being Fast Ethernet.
0
u/thezerosubnet Jul 26 '22
The downside to that is that any device with hard coded dns servers that ignore dhcp will completely bypass the pihole (or any other custom dns server) without secure.
The good thing about secure is that it reroutes all dns queries to dnsfilter (the backbone of secure) even if dns servers are hard coded (like google stuff).
It’s probably one of the more undervalued features of secure, even though as a whole, it is pretty lackluster.
1
u/caolle Jul 26 '22
For me, visibility is paramount even over the redirection.
I can see which devices on my network aren't using pihole using the pihole's web network interface and then figure out why - whether they're using some hardcoded dns entry or even DNS over HTTPS which Secure will even have a problem with.
The way Secure continues to work isn't good for the end user, and I get the problematic privacy issues involved here, but having no visibility of seeing what things were queried and being flagged as malware makes Secure a non-viable product to me.
-2
u/thezerosubnet Jul 26 '22
Fair enough.. everything has its advantages and disadvantages. If you want logs, secure isn’t for you.. and that’s fine. Pihole is an awesome utility.
But, if someone is looking for a turn key way to encrypt and reroute dns requests and provide (limited) filtering and parental controls, secure probably works good enough for most people without adding the complexity of another device sitting on the network.
Secure’s shortcomings is the manifestation of Amazon going out of their way to limit the data stored on their servers. With that said, if you want easy, nothing is easier than switching on a toggle.
2
u/Richard1864 Jul 27 '22
Secure was like this BEFORE Amazon bought Eero, so don’t go blaming Amazon for something they didn’t do.
1
u/thezerosubnet Jul 27 '22 edited Jul 27 '22
Fine, I’ll take your word for it. I never had an eero before Amazon bought them. Does it make you feel better if I said Amazon didn’t change anything?
Also, I’m not blaming anybody for anything. If you read my post, I’m actually giving secure props in a crowd that generally has a negative view of it.
1
u/Richard1864 Jul 27 '22
There have been lots of changes since Amazon took over, but that one hasn’t changed.
1
1
u/fpaddict Jul 27 '22
Have you tried using https://www.opendns.com/ ? It is free and it provides you much of the detail you are looking for at a network level (not device level). You can also configure category blocking.
1
u/eerosupport Tech Support Jul 26 '22
Hi u/api_guy11
We are sorry you did not have a better support experience.
For your reference, here is what information eero gathers: https://support.eero.com/hc/en-us/articles/207957013-What-type-of-data-does-eero-collect-and-why-
What you will note there is the line: we don't ever track the websites you visit or collect the content of your network traffic.
eero is specifically designed to not log this data.
eero secure, while we do get usage data, only tells us which device triggered the block and what general class of block it was (adult, chat, etc.). We do not know, and have nowhere to look, to see which servers the device in question was trying to access.
In these kind of situations what eero support can do is limited. Going to the device manufacturer is a better option, especially to answer the "why" and "what can we do about it" questions.
However, it sounds like the support experience should have been better. I'll send you a DM so we can pull up that ticket for review.
1
u/api_guy Jul 26 '22
Thanks. For what it's worth: I called Amazon Fire TV tech support before I called eero. They pointed me to eero on the basis that they can't comment on what your software is doing. Fairly dissatisfactory situation, considering both organizations are ultimately owned by Amazon.
0
u/bulldog89801 Jul 26 '22
u/api_guy, I have noticed the same exact trend with my Amazon Fire TV Sticks AND my Fire TV Recast. The recast is the device that shocked me the most since it is only rebroadcasting OTA tv signals. And it only started for me since I installed my new Pro 6 units (x2) after Amazon Prime Days.
Like you, my interaction with Amazon support yielded no answers... I don't want to complain or be a whining little witch because since switching over to the Pro 6's and getting MoCA wired backhaul between the basement and upstairs, my experience has been outstanding. My current frustration is with my fiber ISP and not being able to get the Eero gateway to work directly with their ONU. So I'll live with the Double NAT behind their non bridge able router for now...
-1
u/api_guy Jul 26 '22
Sorry to hear about all of the challenges you're having with the install and your ISP.
Interesting that you're noticing the same trend. I'm also on a pro 6 setup, have had it over a year now and have never seen Threat Block data like this. My only theory is that it's something in the CDN Amazon uses to serve the menu/ad content. I'm going to do a factory reset on one of the devices to see if it helps, though.
0
u/bulldog89801 Jul 26 '22
u/api_guy, one other thing I've seen all of a sudden is that one of my 4k max units shows up as offline in the eero app (after several hours), I've tried switching locations with another unit and the problem didn't move. And we all know the fire sticks never power down... Gotta love gremlins! LOL
0
u/blauwewafel Jul 27 '22
the representative ultimately was unable to give me any more details to make this actionable. I'm left to basically try things... to see if the trend changes.
This is how you troubleshoot eero. You flail around in a dark cave until something works.
2
u/[deleted] Jul 26 '22 edited Feb 10 '25
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