With more and more devices connected to the Internet like Smart TVs, tablets, smartphones, media players and so on, we would need an extra layer of security since most of the time the manufacturers do not offer antivirus or anti-phishing protection right out of the box.

Sitecom has introduced an easy to use and configure service named SCS (Sitecom Cloud Security), which adds extra protection to our favorite gadgets and Internet enabled devices.

The service is available on the following products:

The Sitecom Cloud Security feature consists of two components:

-optimized Linux software on the router

-a cloud computing infrastructure hosted in a professional data center

The Linux software on the router lies at the core of the security filters and the router must be able to redirect HTTP traffic (port 80) so each request is intercepted by the software.

The Linux software present on the router will analyze the traffic and will handle the communication with the cloud; this way it will create a uniform fingerprint of the first packets and will consult the “cloud”, which in turn will instruct the router to block or allow the traffic. If the communication with the “cloud” will fail, the request will proceed without approval after a predefined time.

The Cloud infrastructure contains multiple servers hosted in a professional data center to serve the proxy requests:

1. The front end servers are communicating with the software on the router and are optimized for immediate response

2. The back end servers constantly analyze new websites and unknown downloads.

3. Third party sources deliver data to preload the Cloud database with new threat information. Sitecom Cloud Security works with over forty renowned security vendors to receive and learn about online threat information.

The infrastructure is completely scalable to allow quick growth of users. Its redundant design ensures a very high uptime and availability.

Sitecom Cloud Security services

1. Anti-malware & Anti-virus

When users surf the internet, they occasionally download a file. This sometimes happens even when users are not realizing it, for example downloading a program to display specific content on a web page. These downloads can be infected with malware that can harm the computer, affect how it works or violate the user’s privacy.

Sitecom Cloud Security offers protection against the following forms of malware when surfing the Internet:

• Computer viruses – infected files with the aim of causing damage

• Spyware – sends the user’s private details to third parties

• Rootkits – give cyber criminals access to the user’s computer

• Adware – infects the user’s computer with advertising software, usually in the form of pop-ups

2. Anti-phishing

Fraudsters try to gain access to personal details by misleading users and deceiving them with false emails and websites. These could include bank account log-in details, credit card numbers or other personal access data. Not everyone in a family can easily identify these false e-mails and websites.

Sitecom Cloud Security offers protection against phishing and ensures that users are warned whenever you they are about to access a fraudulent website.

3. URL Blocking (blocking of unsafe web sites)

The URL Filter feature in Sitecom Cloud Security blocks access to websites that contain malicious or unwanted content.

4. Blocking of online advertisements

History shows that third-party advertisement servers are a high value target for cybercriminals. Content on these servers are embedded and shown on hundreds or thousands of web sites, reaching tens of thousands or even millions of visitors for a certain period of time. Blocking online advertisements coming from ad servers will therefore increase security.

An additional advantage of blocking ads that come from ad servers is that websites load faster when these images, Flash content, etc. are not downloaded, delivering an all-round better browsing experience.

A list of known ad serving hosts is maintained on the servers in the cloud. The advertisements are neither downloaded nor shown and when needed replaced by transparent images.

Link counters from known ad serving hosts are handled as usual to prevent unintentional blocking of requested content.

The ad blocking function of Sitecom Cloud Security is not automatically activated. End-users that would like to make use of this feature have to activate the function in the user interface.

The router comes with a free half year subscription, which is automatically activated when the user goes online. The free subscription is not automatically extended and once the period has elapsed, the user can easily extend the protection for either 6 or 12 months. Each of the four elements can be purchased separately or together in a bundle. For a 6 month period, the subscription costs about 9.99 Euros and for a full year about 14.99 Euros.