Appreciate the write up with specific examples. I haven’t been discriminated against at work (that I’m aware of) and try very, very hard to avoid it (though I’m sure I have failed unknowingly). This helps remind me of how it can happen whether intentional or not.
If you’re willing to read documentation, OpenBSD is best-in-class for a secure, stable home router. The interfaces (configuration, CLI) are extremely simple and the man pages top notch.
If you’re intimidated by man pages, just be aware they vary in complexity and readability along with the tool they describe. I continue to check them first, and if they’re tl;dr, there is probably a tool that is more simple and suited for your use case. Reading (and searching) them becomes easier over time. Shameless plug for OpenBSD, which has the best man pages I’ve seen thus far.
Sure, it adds a little bit of “security” like the camouflage on tank example, or the prey jumping. Those examples are poor however, because — unlike changing default ports, adding knocking, obfuscating code - these examples are extremely low maintenance/cheap, and come with essentially no downside.
What’s missing here is the discussion of tradeoffs. I fail to see how e.g., requiring port knocking adds enough security to justify the annoyance. Changing the default port, maybe, but given how easily it’s detected anyway, the cons still outweigh the pros IMO.
Great questions and answers. Admittedly, I can’t help but feel there aren’t very many pain points mentioned, which makes me ask what’s being left out.
Additionally, how often was coding actually involved in this role? I hear this claim often but in my experience it’s rare. One-line fixes don’t count. Specifically, what projects were you a code contributor to?