It might not come across as a serious solution with its goofy name, but the Firewalla surely surprised me with a lot of exciting features when I found out about it. Designed by former Cisco staff, Firewalla is a really simple, yet function-rich, cybersecurity solution that remains to be affordable and open-source.
The Firewalla device is just a tiny red box that connects to your router where it then begins to monitor traffic. For insight into what’s going on in your network and controlling Firewalla’s features, you’ll only need to install an app on your smartphone. It’s also good to note down that you’ll be able to control multiple Firewalla units in a single place, just in case you also install one in your office or elsewhere.
Protect your network from various treats
Using a Firewalla can help you protect your network against viruses, malware, hacking, and it even comes with VPN and ad-blocking features. If you have already spent money to buy some smart home gadgets or other IoT devices, you might not care that much if a hacker changes the temperature of your a/c, but most people are sensitive when it comes to hacking cameras of the property or baby-cams. If suspicious things are going on, you’ll receive a notification on the Firewalla app, and you can act right away to defend you (virtual) home.
Firewalla specs:
- Quad-Core 1.0 GHz CPU
- 100 Mb Packet Processing
- 512 MB DDR RAM
- 16GB SD Storage
Social functions and parental controls
The Firewalla app provides you a Smart Parental Control to manage your children’s online times. If you want to give them a cap on how long they are allowed to use the Internet on their devices, this is a good way of not only getting the data on user behavior but also switch connections on and off altogether.
If you like, you can also make use of the Social Hour button and get some quality family time with all the digital distractions being switched off. I’m not a big fan of radical fixes, like pulling the plug. I’d rather address excessive Internet usage in another way, but in some cases, this might prove to be useful too.
No monthly fee
I’ve seen some cybersecurity box that gives you a VPN out there which are affordable when you buy them but then you stumble over some hidden monthly payments that you need to spend to use the service. Firewalla put a big sticker on the box, and they are pleased about the fact that their solution has no such hidden monthly costs. You only buy the box, pay once, and you’re done.
Pricing information
The Firewalla cybersecurity device for homes and small businesses can be purchased for $109.99 on Amazon or directly on their website. If you’re still curious and want to learn more, you can watch the promo video that I embedded for you below. Let us know what you think of this solution, by dropping a comment below. Many thanks!
YouTube: Firewalla, The Smart Internet Security For Your Home
Photo credit: All images used are owned by Firewalla.
