Norton’s new Router Keeps IoT Devices Safe From Malware

Internet of Things-based botnets are becoming a major concern to security researchers around the globe. Late last year, DynDNS was crippled due to such a major botnet attack, which affected the availability of popular online services. Norton, known for their antivirus software, has unveiled the Norton Core router. This new piece of hardware should be capable of securing and protecting connected homes.

The Norton Core Router

Companies specializing in security services are paying close attention to the Internet of Things. Not only will more internet-connected devices create a bigger flow of data, but it also poses a significant risk for future device hijacking. As we have seen at the end of 2016, a few thousand devices can take a large part of the Internet offline in mere hours.

Norton’s new router hardware is labeled as a step in the right direction. The Norton Core is capable of protecting all devices within the home network, ensuring criminals will not gain remote access and abuse the device for DDoS or other attacks. Norton announced their new router at CES 2017. The company hopes to increase its market presence moving forward.

What is rather unusual about the device is how it does not resemble a traditional router. Norton Core comes in gold or gray color and resembles a dome-shaped device. That said, it remains a piece of hardware that will catch anyone’s eye. Don’t let the design fool you, though, as all of the magic happens beneath the surface of the device.

What the Norton Core does is automatically detect connected devices within a home network. Every device connected to the same network will receive an automatic security score from the router. Users can check out the results through the Norton Core mobile app, and all data is fully encrypted. No third-party websites are needed to perform these benchmarks.

It is evident the security company wants to protect users from malware and hijacking attempts with this router. The software running on the Core scans data packets coming in and out of every device, while it looks for anything that can be deemed as suspicious. Those malicious packets are then blocked, which should keep the device in question safe from harm.

On the technical side of things, the Norton Core comes with a 1.7GHz dual-core processor, 4GB of flash memory, and 1GB of ram. It will also support the 802.11AC Wave-2 standard and broadcast 2.4GHz and 5GHz signals simultaneously. Parental control allows users to grant limited internet connectivity to their children and guest network.

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