bought an ASUS AC-87U Router, do I still need an AV?

It is a mix of signature and cloud engine depending on the functions. QoS works with local signature (that are updated regularly, we are at 1076) that amongst other thinks help to identify devices attached to the LAN (is it a Chromecast dongle or an IPhone or a printer?) which connections/flow of data correspond to what (is it skype? SSL, windows update, a malware bot). Then you have the cloud part that checks for malware domains and block them. The detailed mechanics and functions are trademarked and not really known (normal approach to avoid malware writers to know too much), so no use to ask about it as you will not get an answer. As for any of these services if you don't trust them for whatever privacy issue then you should not use them. Questioning does not help

 

Version 3.0.0.4.378.9383

Description ASUS RT-AC87U Firmware version 3.0.0.4.378.9383

- Release Notes –
- Added Movistar Triple VLAN profile in IPTV setting page
- Fixed too many repeat information in system log.
- Fixed Traffic analyzer issue UI issue when changing the data.
- Added workaround for Android devices power drain issue.
- Fixed Adaptive QoS bandwidth setting issue.
- Fixed low samba transfer throughput issue when enable bandwidth limiter.
- Fixed web history related issue.
- Fixed abnormal bandwidth increasing in bandwidth monitor.
- Fixed VPN client UI issue when using Firefox.
- Fixed wireless channel issue when set 2.4G channel in 12 or 13 (only for EU region)
- Fixed dual wan ping time watch dog issue which might cause .false fail over to secondary wan.
- Fixed Bandwidth monitor and Web history UI issue which was caused by "<" or ">" in SSID.

File Size 42.4 MBytes update 2015/12/11

http://www.asus.com/us/Networking/RT...Desk_Download/

 

New Merlin firmware is out, adds DNSSEC support:

http://asuswrt.lostrealm.ca/changelog

 

Latest official firmware for this router is messed up. It's just a 256KB big corrupted ZIP archive instead of the usual 40MB firmware update. Not sure why they were in such hurry releasing it on Christmas day and then I presume they all left to celebrate it, without anyone bothering to check if it was uploaded fine... Lazy ASUS, lazy...

 

Asus routers with AiProtection send full GET requests to Trend Micro:
http://www.flexhub.org/forum/index.php?topic=788.0

 

What is the surprise here? Most AV web scanning over the cloud do the same. More users are connected to the cloud system more intelligence is collected and better protection is for users attached to the system (on-the-fly). Of course, you can turn it off as you can turn off your AV but then why running advance protection solutions if you then decide to turn half of their features OFF?

Its the same story as usual, if you do not trust a security company producing an AV you should not use it (btw, AIprotection is off by default).

Here TM Engine is very effective removing at source the large majority of potential harmful source of malware. Its a very solid layer of protection with no noticeable impact on the operations of the LAN. It is not far from professional UTM systems that you would pay big $$$.

 

Do you think Asus Trend Micro's DPI engine can scan https connection? Or only http? If I have a NAS that hosts a website using http and https, will Trend Micro help preventing someone uploading malicious files to my NAS that sits behind the router?