Unified Threat Management (UTM) for a home office? WatchGuard Firebox T-10 or ...?

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Sid Post

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Oct 14, 1998
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I am looking at the WatchGuard T-10 after reviewing what I could find online and making a few vendor calls. I'm hoping someone with real world personal experience can offer some advice without money tied to it (i.e. vendors selling me stuff I may not need or that may not be cost competitive).

After getting locked out of my computer, it is unclear to me if I was in the midst of a 'ransomware' attack or something more innocent occurred between Windows 10 Pro, Yubikey, PGP and, Intel True Key (which was installed as part of my Windows login without my knowledge). After a total software rebuild starting from nothing, I am now back with a clean Windows 10 Pro system and McAfee is installed again and current.

The cost of downtime makes spending the money on a WatchGuard T-10 with the Total Security software package a viable option. What I don't want to do is waste money, buy something that takes too much time to maintain, makes me vulnerable to service outages, etc. What I want is deep packet inspection before external data makes into my local network for the common things (APT, dirty URL lists, AV, malware, etc.).

So, for someone like myself that is not satisfied with just Anti-Virus software and a 'soft' firewall, am I on the right track? What advice do the RKI around here have for me? Or, put another way, what would do with ~$1K to protect your computer network beyond the simple home brew stuff?

TIA,
Sid
 
I run a combination of Cisco Systems ASA 5505 and bitdefender. I don't want to get into a long drawn out debate about which security software is the best as everybody you ask is going to give you a different answer. That said, I don't run my home system on McAfee and I certainly wouldn't run my work systems on it. You can make arguments for both Kapernsky or Bitdefender as 1a and 1B, but honestly the rest are sub par in a business environment.

Cisco also has Update packages which I would highly recommend getting as they are constantly updating their stuff.

FWIW I have build computer and security systems for my personal business, my accountant, a local church as well as the local school district.
 
Amoo said:
I run a combination of Cisco Systems ASA 5505 and bitdefender. I don't want to get into a long drawn out debate about which security software is the best as everybody you ask is going to give you a different answer. That said, I don't run my home system on McAfee and I certainly wouldn't run my work systems on it. You can make arguments for both Kapernsky or Bitdefender as 1a and 1B, but honestly the rest are sub par in a business environment.
Click to expand...

Some of the big businesses I worked for used Symantec and McAfee products with pros and cons to each. The newer McAfee products under Intel are much better than those of the past IMHO. I have no intention of arguing which one is better however as neither suffice by themselves.

I appreciate the reference to Cisco Systems ASA 550X solutions. It looks like those are appropriate for my needs and are price competitive too.
 
Sid I believe if you check places like Amazon you can pick up a unit in the $3-400 range, then you would just need to get with Cisco to get on an update plan. That should help you in the cost department.

I also agree with you on the AV software, like I said up front, everybody has their own opinion about them, and I secondly agree that in a business environment any "off the shelf" products are not enough by themselves.

That said "insert Bitdefender fanboy comments here about why it is the greatest thing since topless beachess and nudi-bars" :P
 
Licensing costs for both makes the initial hardware cost less significant and cost differences between them almost irrelevant. The Cisco 5505 and 5506X have some significant differences (ethernet speeds and switch concerns for example). The WatchGuard systems really seems to be more targeted to the SOHO and home owner markets which is advantageous for some.

Software licensing and support differences are still being analyzed but, it will be late next week before I get real numbers from Cisco for any real financial comparisons. WatchGuard was almost instantaneous with their quote for hardware and software licensing options.

All in for a WatchGuard with full 3 year licensing and support for all features is ~$1100. Cisco hardware appears to be the same approximate cost but, licensing costs are ambiguous at best without a firm quote.
 
Sophos Home edition is free for home use of you have a spare PC sitting in a closet somewhere. While not as full featured as a dedicated asset like those I referenced, without the annual licensing renewal costs and no hardware purchase, it is a good solution for homeowners looking to protect their entertainment center and refrigerator from each other.
:)
 
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