Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 11 July 2007 12:41
Opinion and Analysis
Page 1 of 2
if this little security gadget lives up to the claims made for it, at $239, every home should have one: as well as every small business.
It's no secret that the number of direct threats to PCs from the net is growing exponentially: virus, Trojans, phishing attacks, spam, etc etc. For the average non-computer literate home user guarding against the diverse and every growing range of threats can be a nightmare requiring multiple pieces of hardware or software, everyone of which must be configured and regularly updated to be effective.
D-Link promises to do it all, in one box: what it claims to be the first desktop internet security device (ISD) for the home and small business market. The 'all-in-one' SecureSpot, aka the DSD-150, sits between your local area network and the Internet and provides, according to D-Link, "multi-tiered protection...against viruses, spam, spyware, pop-ups, hackers and other privacy invasions while operating under a single integrated, easy-to-use Web-based control centre."
According to Maurice Famularo, marketing director of D-Link Australia & New Zealand, it uses a combination of desktop hardware, network servers, thin clients and managed services to provide multi-tiered network protection from both current and emerging Internet security threats. "Home and small business owners no longer have to research, purchase and then attempt to install a confusing set of software applications that may not work together," says Famularo. "They no longer have to struggle to understand the complexities of Internet security."
SecureSpot consolidates firewall, antivirus, intrusion detection, content filtering, pop-up and spyware killers into one small device. It operates in part by monitoring incoming traffic for nasties and by monitoring and controlling access to the net via attached PCs directly (both Windows and Mac OS X devices are supported). And it automatically updates itself with virus definitions, URLs of dubious websites, spyware and spam server lists and all network tools.
