Home Use Firewall - Preferably With IDP / IDS

[Chris_120]

Can anyone recommend a good home use firewall? I'm looking for more than you typical home user. I'd like good content filtering and access controls (adult site blocking, device monitoring for time / sites, etc .) .. but I would also like some intrusion detection / prevention if possible, and I don't mind paying a subscription for it. Oh .. and OpenDNS support would be awesome.

I've seen people recommend snort and the like, but honestly, I would rather just pay for a device and have it built with a nice interface.

Right now I am leaning toward this:

http://www.amazon.com/ZyXEL-Wireless-Internet-Security-Firewall/dp/B00433101I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1449261032&sr=8-1&keywords=B00433101I

Does anyone have any other recommendations?

 

[bill001g]

I have always just used a pc and freeware pfsense. Intrusion prevention etc is almost moot point in a home network. Pretty much the only attack vector is from the internet and unless you run DMZ or port fowarding the NAT will almost accomplish as much since it just toss away traffic that it does not have a destination for.

The main costs are going to be the subscription lists for the device, you pay for quality and good easy to use are kinda expensive. They say you have pay the poor guy who has to surf porn all day

Do not even think to use Opendns for security it only stops those too lazy to do a google search on how to bypass it. For quite a time you would type in OPENDNS in the search bar and google would actually recommend the word "bypass" as a second search term.

 

[jawest12]

Sophos XG. You can get a device, which is more expensive. But an old PC with two NICs works great, and the software/license is free for home use. Complete business class capabilities. I recently installed this at home myself. Has a MUCH better interface than PFSense.

https://www.sophos.com/en-us/products/free-tools/sophos-xg-firewall-home-edition.aspx

 

[USAFRet]

I did this for a LONG time with a $50 PC from craigslist and free Linux based firewall solution. ipCop, untangle, pfSense.

Going to start up a new one here in a few weeks.

 

[Chris_120]

Hi All,

Thanks so much for the replies, i appreciate it. It definitely seems like a lot of folks are going the "get an old pc and run snort / ipCop / pfSense , etc on it. I was hoping that some enterprising person would have packaged these things and put them on an appliance that I can buy I don't even mind paying for a subscription if that's necessary. That ... and I don't want to spend too much time deciphering some complicated CLI interface .. I'd like a nice user interface.

Maybe I need to be considering a different device .. what if I asked the question like this:

is there a good router / access point that is good at things like detecting ddos attacks, port scans, etc., and has good content filtering / parental controls?

Thanks all!
Chris

 

[USAFRet]

Hi All,

Thanks so much for the replies, i appreciate it. It definitely seems like a lot of folks are going the "get an old pc and run snort / ipCop / pfSense , etc on it. I was hoping that some enterprising person would have packaged these things and put them on an appliance that I can buy I don't even mind paying for a subscription if that's necessary. That ... and I don't want to spend too much time deciphering some complicated CLI interface .. I'd like a nice user interface.

Maybe I need to be considering a different device .. what if I asked the question like this:

is there a good router / access point that is good at things like detecting ddos attacks, port scans, etc., and has good content filtering / parental controls?

Thanks all!
Chris

The tools I used had a VERY nice interface. No major CLI foolishness needed. Seriously.
untangle had a nice dashboard interface, fancy graphs of whatever it was tracking and you clicked on....all for a free download(beyond the hardware).

For instance, go here, and click on the monitor screen:
https://www.untangle.com/untangle-ng-firewall/
Accept the demo username/password

Thats what it looks like, and there is a lot of clicky in that demo.
And they do have an appliance you can buy if you want.

 

[Chris_120]

The tools I used had a VERY nice interface. No major CLI foolishness needed. Seriously.
untangle had a nice dashboard interface, fancy graphs of whatever it was tracking and you clicked on....all for a free download(beyond the hardware).

For instance, go here, and click on the monitor screen:
https://www.untangle.com/untangle-ng-firewall/
Accept the demo username/password

Thats what it looks like, and there is a lot of clicky in that demo.
And they do have an appliance you can buy if you want.

This is excellent .. thanks for this recommendation.

 

[jawest12]

Sophos XG 85 or 105. Full appliance. No command line stuff.