Fortress Launches Enterprise-Like UTM Appliance For Smart Homes

[itGeeks]

This looks interesting but it also does not look like it's going to be cheap. As a big fan of running a UTM at home I will be keeping a eye on this.

snb reports http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/other/ces/ces-2017/33064-fortress-launches-enterprise-like-utm-appliance-for-smart-homes

 

Product website http://fortresscs.com/

[jmwills]

It does look interesting.

[itGeeks]

Products like this are very much needed in the market place as the threats to our home networks are very real and growing, That said I do have some concerns as follows-

 

1) I hope they don't price this so high that it does not get major adoption.

2) hope the hardware and service offering does not cripple our networks.

3) Is the hardware powerful enough to support GB internet speeds that some people have now and the rest of us see in the future?

[itGeeks]

I contacted Fortress with some questions about the product and I am disappointed to share with you that it seems there will be no advanced control to do things like port forwarding, QOS.

 

Here is there response-

 

The Fortress UTM  incorporates a high-end wireless router and a custom OpenWRT stack. While we have the capability to provide complete advanced user control (administrator-level control) over port forwarding, VPN, QOS, VPN, subnets, etc., we have not yet determined whether our target users need these types of capabilities. The focus of the Fortress solution is on the enterprise-grade cyber security feature set we are bringing to a residential footprint; therefore, this requires a significant hardening of the device. So, if we allow complete reconfiguration freedom, it is hard-to-impossible to guarantee the integrity of the security configuration.

 

As I am sure you are well aware, the vast majority of users would not know (or care) about port forwarding, VPNs, etc. Instead, most home users would like to have "secure internet connectivity" for all device in the home. Economics require us to focus on that (large) target audience vs. the professional / hobbyist group.