De la mano de un ex ingeniero de Cisco preocupado por la seguridad doméstica tras sufrir el hackeo de una cámara vigila-bebes, acabó naciendo la empresa Firewalla.
Su idea es muy sencilla; concentrar en un único aparato todas las funciones de seguridad que puede requerir un entorno doméstico, a saber:
- Adblock para publicidad
- Control parental
- VPN
- DDN’s
- Listas de bloqueo
- Monitorización en tiempo real del tráfico
Y es precisamente el último punto, «Monitorización en tiempo real el tráfico» más el tipo de conexión permitida, Ethernet o Gigaethernet, lo que diferencia las distintas soluciones propuestas. A continuación os pego todas ellas extraídas de su propia página web:
Hardware and Performance Comparison
| Blue Plus $199 | Purple $319 | Gold $478 | Red $139 | Blue $189 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Packet Processing Speed | 500 Mb | 1 Gb | >3 Gb | 100 Mb | 500 Mb |
| Memory | 2048 MB | 2048 MB | 4096 MB | 512 MB | 1024 MB |
| Number of Ports | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
| Active Protect Entries | 20,000 | 20,000 | 40,000 | 1000 | 10,000 |
| CPU | 64bit Quad Core ARM 1.2ghz | 64bit Six-Core ARM 1.6ghz – 2ghz | 64bit Quad-Core Intel 2.2ghz (AES NI) | 32bit Quad Core ARM 1ghz | 64bit Quad Core ARM 1ghz |
| OpenVPN Server Speed | 70 Mb | 120 Mb | 120 Mb | 28 Mb | 70 Mb |
| WireGuard Server Speed | 280 Mb | 500 Mb | 500 Mb | – | – |
| Storage | 16 GB | 16 GB | 32 GB | 16 GB | 16 GB |
| WiFi WISP (WAN) | – | Yes | – | – | – |
| WiFi LAN | – | Yes | – | – | – |
| Console Port | None | None | 1 | None | None |
| Power (Watt) | ~7W | ~7W to 9W | ~10W to 12W | ~5W | ~5W |
| Size | 5.4 x 5.4 x 3.4 cm | 9x6x3cm | 13 x 11 x 3.4 cm | 4.5 x 4.5 x 3 cm | 4.5 x 4.5 x 3 cm |
| Weight | 2.15 oz / 61 g | 3.84 oz / 110g | 19.9 oz / 565 g | 1.52 oz / 43 g | 1.59 oz / 45 g |
| Operating Temperature | 32°F to 95°F (with airflow) | 32°F to 95°F (with airflow) | 32°F to 122°F (with airflow) | 32°F to 95°F (with airflow) | 32°F to 95°F (with airflow) |
Software Features Comparison
| Blue Plus | Purple | Gold | Red | Blue | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core Features | |||||
| Active Protect (up-to-date threat detection and prevention for the whole network) | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Deep Insights | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Ad Block | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Family Protect, Safe Search, Family Time/Social Hour | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Device Management | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Device Groups | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Manage Rules (Allow, Block, Domains, Categories) | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Alarms | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Content Filtering (adult, gaming, video, …) | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Bandwidth and Monthly Data Plan Monitoring | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| VPN Server OpenVPN | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| VPN Server WireGuard | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ||
| VPN Client | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| DNS over HTTPS | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| IPv6 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| DDNS | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Simple & DHCP Mode | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Router Mode | ✔ | ✔ | |||
| Transparent Bridge Mode | ✔ | ✔ | |||
| Application-based Block | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Advanced Features | |||||
| Site to Site VPN | 1xconnection | 1xconnections | 10xconnections | Client only | 1x connection |
| Geo-IP Filtering / Regional Blocking | 10 countries | 10 countries | no limit | 3 countries | |
| Web Portal Access | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
| Target List (Rules Grouping) | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
| Blocking History | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ||
| Custom or 3rd party software installation | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Inline Firewall | ✔ | ✔ | |||
| Simple Smart Queue | ✔ | ||||
| Advanced Smart Queue + Rate Limit | ✔ | ✔ | |||
| Content Prioritization | ✔ | ✔ | |||
| New Device Quarantine | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Docker Containers | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ||
| SSH / Root Access | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| VPN Network Flows | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ||
| Network Performance Monitoring | (beta) | ✔ | ✔ | ||
| Router Features | |||||
| Router | ✔ | ✔ | |||
| WAN (PPPoE, Static IP, DHCP, Triple-Play, VLAN) | ✔ | ✔ | |||
| Network segmentation (preset network types, inter-network traffic rules) | VLAN Only | ✔ | |||
| VLAN | 5 Max | ✔ | |||
| Inbound and outbound per segment Firewall | ✔ | ✔ | |||
| Policy-Based Routing | ✔ | ✔ | |||
| Policy-Based Routing – VPN | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ||
| Multi-WAN Load Balancing + Failover | Wifi + Ethernet | ✔ | |||
| Link Aggregation (802.3ad) | ✔ |
El aparato en sí es bastante compacto, tan sólo variando en cuanto al color -para diferenciar los distintos modelos, cantidad y tipo de bocas ethernet.
La idea básica consiste en conectar el aparato entre la ONT y el Router, exceptuando el modelo «Gold» que ya es un router neutro en sí mismo. Posteriormente se configura mediante el smartphone con su correspondiente app y todo listo para funcionar. El precio es realmente elevado si lo comparamos con soluciones basadas en Raspberry Pi o incluso routers neutros con prestaciones similares. Pero su ventaja competitiva radica básicamente en su simplicidad, tanto a la hora de conectar como a la hora de configurar.