Can I use a second router on my network to isolate certain computers?

Question

Ok, right now I have one router that I use for everything. It is plugged directly into my modem. My brother keeps on getting infected with malware no matter how many precautions I set up. He won't switch to linux because he can't play certain games.

Can I isolate his computer and consoles using a second router connected to the main router? I have a second router used solely as a switch but it has full access to the network.

I tried getting him to use the guest network feature through wifi but he complains about it being slow compared to the wired speeds.

Answer 1

You could be on 1 subnet and have him on a second subnet and the traffic would be isolated. The traffic would still have to pass through the your router, but it offers some protection. A vlan would be even more protection, but I doubt your router has that.

Does either switch/router support the OpenWRT,Tomato, or other open source firmware?

Using these firmware you have access to iptables.

If you are on say subnet 192.168.1.1/24 and your brother 192.168.5.1/24

You can write a rules that DROPS all traffic from 5.1/24 aimed at 1.1/24.

If the main router had it you could also do this.

eth0 internet
eth1 your stuff
eth2 your stuff
eth3 brother's router

if source is eth3 and destination is not eth0 DROP

iptables -A FORWARD -i eth3 ! -o eth0 -j DROP an additional rule for the INPUT,OUTPUT, and maybe one for the pre-routing CHAIN will probably be required.