Enterprise firewall at consumer prices?

Check Point Software Technologies this week announced version 8.0 of its Check Point ZoneAlarm Secure Wireless Router Z100G, with new security features and enhancements that provides "advanced enterprise level protection for consumers' home or home office wireless networks." The $149.95 Z100G is now available through the ZoneAlarm Web site.

Check Point says the Z100G is the "first true Unified Threat Management (UTM)" appliance created just for consumers. The company says the same technologies used by Check Point in its enterprise-level routers are on the Z100G.

Features on the router include:

• VStream anti-spam technology for e-mail messaging security enforcement.
• A firewall monitor that includes details that aim to help users better understand any firewall events.
• A built-in DNS server that provides users with access to networked items on internal LANs.
• Enhanced policy editors, which let users drag and drop firewall policy rules.
• A status dashboard, which incorporates memory status, CPU usage, and other statistics to let users monitor every aspect of their router.
• Xbox LIVE support, allowing users to securely host games online.

The Z100G includes CheckPoint's Stateful Inspection firewall technology and its SmartDefense Intrusion Prevention features, which "dynamically filters packets of information all the way down to the most deeply embedded data," Check Point says. Other features include gateway anti-virus, firewall, parental controls, as well as a print server, bandwidth monitoring and a VPN, which allows users to access networked devices remotely without having to buy extra software.

This sounds like a dream come true for home users who have understood for a while about the need for additional security for their home networks. Just read anything about botnets, zombies and other threats and you'll see what I'm talking about. The addition of an anti-virus on the gateway should help stop threats sooner, and I like the addition of a bandwidth monitor to help users determine how much bandwidth is going through their networks (much better than PC-based bandwidth monitoring software).

Whether home users will even understand the need for such a device is still up for debate – I guarantee you that you can walk into a friend's or family member's home and notice that their wireless security isn't even enabled correctly. However, if you're one of the "IT help desk" people for friends and family, the additional security features on this wireless router are pretty impressive – I'm hoping to get one to test in the "Cool Tools" testing zone, and we'll have a larger report later.

• Security
• Wireless / Mobile
• Check Point
• home networks
• security
• wireless router
• ZoneAlarm