The Norton Core is a beautiful Wi-Fi router that protects your digital home

Tue, Jan 3, 2017, 11:14 AM

Norton Core router. — Norton’s new Core Wi-Fi router is meant to look good and protect your devices.

Chances are you know Norton by Symantec (SYMC) for its annoying pop-ups telling you to update your anti-virus software. But the computer security company is jumping into a slightly different business with its new Norton Core secure Wi-Fi router, which it’s unveiling at CES, the big consumer electronics show this week in Las Vegas.

Designed to improve the security of your Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices, the Core can detect when things like your connected security cameras or smart coffee pot are at risk of being taken over by hackers and quarantine them from the rest of your network.

Why should you care about whether your connected cameras are safe? Because it turns out hackers can crack the cameras and stream anything they are recording when they are not properly secured. In fact, according to Norton, a Russian website is currently streaming feeds from more than 1,000 people around the world without their knowledge. That’s just a little creepy.

To combat this, Norton Core determines whether your IoT devices have the latest security updates. If, for example, the Core sees that your connected thermostat isn’t running the latest software update, the Core will take it off of the router’s main network, segregating it from your other devices so it can’t infect them with malware. The Core then pings you with an alert to update the thermostat’s software.

IoT device security isn’t something consumers should dismiss, either. Several recent high-profile distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks — which use an army of hacked devices to take down major websites — have been launched using IoT gadgets. One such attack interrupted service for some of the biggest services around including Amazon, Netflix, Reddit, Spotify, Tumblr and Twitter.

Norton Core app. — The Norton Core app provides you with security information about your network and lets you control your home’s devices.

In addition to protecting your IoT devices, the Core router is designed to help keep your computers, smartphones and tablets safe as well. Norton says the Core includes deep packet inspection, intrusion detection and intrusion prevention systems to help ensure all of your connected gadgets are safe and free of malware.

To help you understand how secure your various devices are, Norton has developed an app for the Core that provides you with a security score. Based on a 0 to 500 scale, the score tells you if your devices are running the latest security updates, if your smartphones and tablets are secure and if your PC or Mac is infected with malware. The app also allows you to set parental controls for when your kids can access the internet, which definitely won’t result in any family arguments.

To get all of these security capabilities, though, you have to subscribe to Norton’s Norton Core Security Plus, which includes protection for up to 20 PCs, Macs, smartphones and tablets and an unlimited number of IoT devices. The first year of Core Security Plus is included with your purchase of the Core. After that, the software costs $10 per month. Without that software, though, the Core is just another high-performance router with basic security features, which kind of eliminates its entire purpose.

Norton Core colors. — The Core is available in silver and gold.

Sporting an attractive geodesic dome design, the Core is meant to be on display in your home rather than tucked behind your computer desk or end table. Putting the Core on display out in the open also ensures that it will provide the best connectivity possible. That’s because when you hide your router behind your sofa or desk, you block its Wi-Fi signals, which can impact connection speeds and range.

Norton’s router features three hardline LAN ports and uses 4X4 AC2600 MIMO connectivity. In other words, the Core can send and receive a huge amount of data without bottlenecking. Setup should be pretty straightforward, as the Core’s app will walk you through the entire operation. That’s a far more user-friendly experience than the standard router setup process, which requires you to launch your web browser and navigate often complicated menus.

Norton’s Core is one of a new style of Wi-Fi routers that seek to make using the networking devices more intuitive and less intimidating. Products like Google’s Wi-Fi, the Eero and the Luma router offer similar interfaces, though, also function as mesh networks. Essentially a mesh network means you setup multiple router repeaters around your home to ensure you don’t have any Wi-Fi dead zones.

Fore now, the Core doesn’t offer this feature, but Norton says the devices is designed to be able to use mesh-style networking in the future.

The Core is available for pre-order $200 now, and will cost $280 when it begins shipping later this summer.

More of Yahoo Finance’s coverage of CES:

What to expect this week at CES, the world’s biggest gadget show

Samsung’s Family Hub 2.0 is a refrigerator you can talk to

Samsung’s new washing machine will save you time and aggravation

The biggest busts from the world’s most renowned gadget show

Email Daniel at dhowley@yahoo-inc.com; follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley.

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