Hi,
This might sound like an odd question, but could anyone confirm whether this is a legitimate Hub Manager UI for a Smart Hub 2?
The UI wasn't loading for a little while when I tried to access it via the local gateway IP address or bthub.home, and now the lack of BT branding is making me nervous!
that looks as I would expect if logging into my hub now need https whereas before is was only http
Yes it is correct.
See link about the warning.
Security warning when accessing the Hub Manager | Broadband | BT Help
Thanks - I mean specifically the lack of any BT branding on it
Will BT branding make it function any better? It is not needed. If you are entering your BT hub's management pages which means you are logging onto your BT hub it should appear obvious that it is part of the BT hub's software as you will not find it anywhere else.
To be slightly clearer, what I am asking is: does the Hub Manager UI on the Smart Hub 2 usually contain BT branding, or does it look like my screenshots?
If I google Smart Hub 2 UI I get screenshots like this:
No, it doesn’t contain the brand name. The screenshot you have there is a screenshot of a screenshot off the internet…if you see what I mean, hence the BT reference at the top. The actual screen appearance is what you have in message 1.
The slow loading is due to them switching on HTTPS to maintain compatibility with current browsers, which are starting to insist on HTTPS. In reality, as you are talking to your own router, in your own network, the encryption provided by HTTPS is unnecessary and there is no security risk due to someone intercepting your connection to the router as it goes across the internet. Any reference to a “risk” comes about because, to save money, BT are using a self-signed certificate to generate the encryption instead of an externally recognised, (and paid for), certificate. This means the browser cannot check if it is genuine, as it fails when it tries to check it against an external Certificate Authority, hence the warning about "risk".
And, let’s face it, the bad-boys not daft today. If it was a dummy page you can take it they’re cleaver enough to make sure it looked exactly like the real thing. They wouldn't make such an obvious mistake as leaving out the BT logo.
I get a similar thing logging into my TP-Link router when using the web browser. It’s nothing new and nothing to be concerned over.
Thank you regarding the branding.
The strange loading behaviour was a red/orange page with PAGE CANNOT BE DISPLAYED on it, which only appeared once, the first time I tried to access the hub manager yesterday. Had never seen it before, and then the lack of branding threw me off a bit.
It was probably just reacting to the link you were using trying to access it as HTTP, whereas it now needs HTTPS.
What browser was it that displayed the message?
There may have been an option at the bottom to override the warning and access it anyway. After you've accessed it the first time, the browser has probably logged it as safe, so won't challenge it again.
I use Brave at the moment, and even now, it displays the 'HTTP risky to access this message' every once in a while. Usually after I've cleared the cache and reset it.