I'm going to get me a new Router, and I thought it would be a good idea to ask the gathered collective brain-pool here at MZ about suggestions regarding current brands and models!

I know many of you knows about this stuff!

What I'm looking for:

Wired Gigabit WAN and LAN (min 3 LAN ports) is a requirement.
WiFi appreciated, technically not a must, latest standards.
Acknowledged High Security (with firewall, blacklist, whitelist, etc)
Acknowledged High Network Performance (lots of traffic between many internal and external sources)
Flexible interface with usable and powerful controls for configuration.

On Power-UP: An optional ability to automatically establish *and keep alive* an outgoing VPN connection to services as IPredator or such, and route all traffic through that, would be a plus, but not a requirement.

Some routers can be flashed and customized I have heard. Anyone with experience in this? What to choose there?

So, any recommendations about the early 2018 router options?

Thanks in advance...