Friday, June 16, 2006
$100 anti-everything devices for your entire network
Businesses with hundreds of computers often spend thousands of dollars on special-putpose computers that just filter spam, or check for viruses, and so on.
Everything in the computer industry eventually gets cheaper and shows up in the consumer market. Now there are a couple of boxes that cost about $100 and promise to protect your entire home network against viruses, spyware, and the other maladies you risk on the Internet. Think "firewall on steroids" or "the Swiss Army knife of security".
One is the D-Link SecureSpot, and another is the iPhantom.
How good are they? I haven't tested either one. One worry I have is whether the devices themselves have security vulnerabilities. Consumer-grade appliance boxes like these have a discouraging track record for problems that let outsiders take them over. D-Link has had plenty. A security problem could be really bad because these boxes have a feature to thwart spyware by scanning your outgoing traffic for sensitive information like credit card numbers. Which means the devices need to have a list of sensitive information. Which means that anyone who can take over your security appliance has all your sensitive information neatly collected in one convenient place.
It's also important to remember that they protect against Internet threats. Unlike antivirus software on your computer, they won't protect against malicious software that gets physically loaded. For example, remember the Sony CD scandal where inserting the CD installed hidden software that jeopardized your security? These devices can't, and aren't designed to, detect threats like that.
Oh, and you can probably get one for about $80, but you'll spend that much every year on updates, which you can't do without because of the rapid appearance of new viruses and spyware.
If you're a small business, test one under load before you commit. One of the easiest ways for a vendor to cut corners would be to ship a device that can't quite keep up with the full speed of your Internet connection.
"Are you going to give me a recommendation already", you fairly ask. Wait and see. Maybe install one on a test network. Keep an eye out for independent reviews.
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Everything in the computer industry eventually gets cheaper and shows up in the consumer market. Now there are a couple of boxes that cost about $100 and promise to protect your entire home network against viruses, spyware, and the other maladies you risk on the Internet. Think "firewall on steroids" or "the Swiss Army knife of security".
One is the D-Link SecureSpot, and another is the iPhantom.
How good are they? I haven't tested either one. One worry I have is whether the devices themselves have security vulnerabilities. Consumer-grade appliance boxes like these have a discouraging track record for problems that let outsiders take them over. D-Link has had plenty. A security problem could be really bad because these boxes have a feature to thwart spyware by scanning your outgoing traffic for sensitive information like credit card numbers. Which means the devices need to have a list of sensitive information. Which means that anyone who can take over your security appliance has all your sensitive information neatly collected in one convenient place.
It's also important to remember that they protect against Internet threats. Unlike antivirus software on your computer, they won't protect against malicious software that gets physically loaded. For example, remember the Sony CD scandal where inserting the CD installed hidden software that jeopardized your security? These devices can't, and aren't designed to, detect threats like that.
Oh, and you can probably get one for about $80, but you'll spend that much every year on updates, which you can't do without because of the rapid appearance of new viruses and spyware.
If you're a small business, test one under load before you commit. One of the easiest ways for a vendor to cut corners would be to ship a device that can't quite keep up with the full speed of your Internet connection.
"Are you going to give me a recommendation already", you fairly ask. Wait and see. Maybe install one on a test network. Keep an eye out for independent reviews.
# posted by Frederick @ 7:38 PM Email to a friend:
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