My New Firewall - Untangle

Written by Timothy Stewart

 

 

For about 5 years now I have been using some sort of Linux or Free BSD based firewall to protct my home network.  I started with IPCop, then moved to Smoothwall, then PFsense, and now I am using Untangle.  Out of all that I have used, I have to say that Untangle is definitely the most sophisticated of the bunch.  I gave it a try about a year ago but it wasn't up to par with the rest.  It has come a long way since then.

 

Untangle is really a content filter more than it is a firewall, although it does firewalling just fine.  Untangle sits on the edge of your network and filters any unwanted content from passing.  It does packet level scanning for spam, viruses, phishing scams, and more.  You can also add VPN services or even block advertisements.  Untangle is built on open source software, at it its core is Debian Linux.  Untangle takes more of an applicnce approach and you can add more virtual "racks" to Untangle with only a few clicks.  Each rack contains an add on that adds functionality to your appliance.

Untangle can be freely downloaded at www.untangle.com.  All you need is an old PC and you are good to go.  After you download the ISO, you can burn it to a CD and install it.  Within 10 minutes you can have a fully functional gateway firewall that is filtering, scanning, and keeping the baddies out.  The best part is that because it sits on the edge of your network, it is protecting every machine behind it.

You can see in my screenshots the idea of virtual racks and the types of things it is filtering.