You probably know Norton for its security software,
but Norton Core is a great looking home router which is touted as being
“secure.” With the number of connected home devices increasing rapidly and very
sensitive data such as live home video feeds there are many potential targets
for hacking. That’s why Norton thinks there is a market for a secure router.
The first thing that makes it secure is the ability
to self-update its own firmware. Software always needs improvements, and
existing libraries do contain vulnerabilities that get fixed over time. But
updating a router firmware is a hassle, a huge number of people simply don’t do
it, leaving their devices vulnerable to well-documented attack vectors. Norton
Core updates itself to plug as many vulnerabilities as possible.
Norton says that its
Core router is capable of recognizing known smart home devices such as
thermostats and others, which are known for an array of vulnerabilities. It can
then “quarantine” them, making a potential breach less likely to cause more
damage to the overall network’s security.
Core also scans network packets for known harmful
traffic or traffic patterns. It’s not clear how much it can detect this way,
but this is a technique that is used in Enterprises as well. It requires a
degree of processing power to inspect high-volume data traffic.
Finally, the Norton Core app will make the user more
aware of potential security breaches. This is really key because there are often
simple actions that people can take to drastically improve their computing
security.
Of course, the Norton Core has been designed to be a
high-performance router. It comes with a Dual-core 1.7 GHz processor and
supports WiFi standards up to WiFi-AC and 4×4 MU-MIMO (multi-device connections
and data transfers). It is possible to connect USB drives or printers to it,
thanks to two USB 3.0 ports. We will have to see if it can accommodate guest
networks, VPN, and other desirable features, but the app-based configuration
seems much more friendly than the typical web UI.
