Sunday, May 18, 2008

Security Issues Solved!

From the CircuitCity.com review of the Yoggie Gatekeeper SOHO Network Security Server:

Features Complete protection: Yoggie Gatekeeper SOHO offers corporate-grade security for your small office or home network. Protect up to five computers with 13 built-in security packages packed inside a small, palm-size, Linux-based security server. No additional software needed: No need to purchase or manage additional security software for your PC’s—just plug the Yoggie Gatekeeper SOHO into your Internet router and your computers are completely safe. Parental controls: Yoggie Gatekeeper SOHO manages the security from outside the child’s computer. Through an intuitive remote management environment you can enforce web content filtering policies, and control on-line time, without actually accessing the child’s computer. Easy to install and use: With Yoggie Gatekeeper SOHO you don’t have to be a security expert to enjoy corporate-level security. All you have to do is simply plug the Yoggie device into your network router and you are completely safe. It even feature automatic security updates and upgrades, so you don’t have to worry about downloads. Not once, but twice this review says that the user is "completely safe." Additionally, Circuit City begins the review with the phrase "complete protection." Finally a security device that offers complete protection! I can discard any other devices, software, or processes I have in place--Yoggie has it covered! To be fair, it appears that this is a stateful firewall and a proxy for a number of popular protocols. It probably does a fine job, but it certainly doesn't completely secure a network. Indeed, if a naive user believes reviews such as the one at CircuitCity.com, it's likely to make the network less secure. Unfortunately, the Yoggie site itself says "Connect your laptop to any hotspot without security-related concerns." So now I can send personal information over unencrypted wireless LANs with no security concerns? Another troubling thing is that one of the review sites says that software updates are free for a year, and an eBay seller mentions a three-year subscription. That raises red flags, and I can't find any mention of subscription prices or durations on the Yoggie site. The Circuit City page gives essentially no information beyond the market-speak given above. Amazon's description is roughly the same as Circuit City's "review," lending credence to my impression that the "review" was written by a marketer. Yoggie also provides something called the layer 8 security engine [sic]...

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