Link to home
Start Free TrialLog in
Avatar of Edward Pamias
Edward PamiasFlag for United States of America

asked on

What is the best firewall appliance for home use.

I am looking to get a firewall appliance for home. Excuse me if I am not using the correct terminology. :)   All will get points for suggestions. Try to keep the cost below 400 American dollars. It could be a router as well but just the Firewall appliance is needed.
Avatar of McKnife
McKnife
Flag of Germany image

Edward, just the name "firewall appliance" is no agenda. What should that thing do for you?
Protect endpoints?
Or should it do what a normal router already does, block all unallowed incoming internet traffic?
Or more?

Normally, a home user does not need anything but the windows firewall and the router firewall that each router has enabled by default.
Avatar of Edward Pamias

ASKER

I work from home and I have a number of PC's and would like better protection then the router provides.
Ok, then tell me what is it that your router is missing?
That's my point, I do not know what its Missing. I have the Netgear Nighthawk AC 1900. Is that sufficient enough protection?
Look, any router will block all incoming traffic. Nothing gets in.
Advanced firewalls would be no better at this aspect (incoming traffic/internet based attacks).

It seems you need to find out exactly what/what scenario you would like to protect against. (In fact, most questions in the security area miss that point).
@McKnife how about a proxy server instead?
For what? Please describe your needs. You have not done that, yet.
I am just trying to get extra protection from what I already have. I have been hacked before even with Firewall Software and a good router. Any suggestions?
I cannot help you if you don't describe your needs better. "being hacked" - how did that hack go and why would a firewall even matter? I bet you were infected (as in drive by infection, mail attachment, installed a trojan), not hacked (=attacked via internet, from outside your LAN).
How about this I would like an extra layer of protection on my network.
That's what we all want. To get it, we need to define what we would like to protect against. You started to write about a hack, what was it like? Edward, please, you are getting nowhere if you don't specify. Home users don't hide behind hitech firewalls, absolutely no need. And a proxy is not used against hacks.
I am not a home USER per say. I work for a large corporation from home and I use my PC's to login to financial institutions. So with that said I wanted to get a second layer of protection for me and my data.
So consider my home like a small office. :)
I'll give an example. My company has communicated with another company, they shared files. The contents were super-sensitive. So the contents were encrypted, the sending was encrypted (ssl) and also the upload area was password protected. To make it even more secure, you had to know 2 passwords. In that case, I would talk about a second layer of protection on the upload area. So if that company were you and had asked here: "we would like to secure our upload area (which will hold super-sensitive content) that is already password secured with a 'second layer of protection'", then the need would be defined and I would have been able to suggest something.

In your case, you have given me no idea of what you are trying to protect and against whom. Vague hints about a hack, no feedback on my repeated asking to specify it or at least tell me about the hack and how it's connected to this question or to firewalls. Sorry, but I cannot help you.
@McKnife, I appreciate your efforts. Thank you!
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
Avatar of LockDown32
LockDown32
Flag of United States of America image

Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
Hello Edward,

I largely agree with McKnife and he has given you a lot to chew on.

Your Netgear is a decent firewall. I use a Cisco RV325 (320 for 4 port) that is a VPN router and fits within your budget. As McKnife says, any decent router will offer similar protections.

You said "have been hacked before even with Firewall Software and a good router". Routers of the kind we are discussing will not stop such attacks. Why?  We invite them in by the web pages we visit and by the clicks we make. I have to pay special attention to going only to safe sites, not downloading or opening dodgy emails and not clicking on friendly (but dangerous) links like "we can speed up your computer"

So what you are looking for really has to come from your own careful usage.
John,

I agree, but I was just looking for suggestions in my ask. Meaning, make suggestion on what I should get and there usage. Such as Lockdown did in his comment. Then after all the suggestion I would pick the best one and go for it. :)

Thank you!
SOLUTION
Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
Thanks guys for chiming in here.
You are very welcome. Looking back, I think McKnife helped you as well.