Hardware Firewalls

[priscus]

Anyone have much experience of using these?

With the proliferation of devices having internet connectivity, the attractiveness of having one device which can protect ALL internet-connected devices is becoming increasingly attractive.

I have, for example, no idea of what my Blu-ray player's online activity is all about. I would be completely unaware that it was conversing online but for the give away blinking LEDs! The fact that I own devices which have transactions on line, without me having any knowledge thereof, must be a security concern. I seem to recall some of the victims of ' WannaCry' got infected over their LAN, with the worm having first accessed an unprotected device.

The options which I have looked at so far, do seem very expensive though, and there seems to be a trend to an annual subscription model, which will make things more costly.

I am sure I recall cheap Linux-based hardware Firewall boxes proliferating in the very early Noughties. They no longer appear to be around. Were they not sufficiently effective?

 

[cornemuse]

If you're just watching movies with it, why is it 'connected', anyways?

Maybe reporting back to big brother if you're watching pirated/illegal blu-rays!!

"Put down the remote and step away from the player, , , ,"

 

[priscus]

It has the same net service features as do Smart TVs, ie Netflix, Catch-up players and such like, so yes it has its own connection via a network switch.

Haven't watched any pirated Blu-rays (Have never even come across any, but I don't doubt that they are about). So not that, though it is possible that it is just spying on me in the same general way that seems to be becoming commonplace in the digital world.

It is not just the Blu-ray player though. All the stuff such as Smart TV, PVR, digital TV tuners etc seem to spend time online which is initiated by themselves. (ie Other than when performing a task set by me to cause them to go online.) Of course they occasionally will require to update online, but I think that I am observing far more on-line activity than that could account for.

I have, in addition to Ethernet ports on my router, an 8-way network switch in my study, and a 5-way in the lounge, and ALL the ports are occupied, then, in addition there is a raft of wireless connections: laptops, tablet, Alexa, security cams etc etc, and increasingly, more and more stuff seems to be network-enabled, so, no doubt, it will get worse.

But my question is not about devices spying, which is an interesting topic in and of itself, but about hardware firewalls to protect all net-connected devices.