A friend of mine sent me a note this morning, asking if our bandwidth shaping device could provide the same type of service as this new DoJo application. Their niche is basically that you cannot trust third-party devices in your home network from being hijacked. For example, the software engineers writing the code that allows you to remote control your dishwasher from your iPhone, are likely not security experts. It is a reasonable assertion that a hacker might exploit a security hole in their software. The Dojo will detect any smart device breaches and take action, a good idea for sure.
I spent about 20 minutes reading and thinking about their specification and what value that provides to the home user. And then it hit me, there is a more obvious precaution to secure your home network that you might be overlooking.
IN 2016 and going forward THERE SHOULD BE NO REASON TO STORE ANY PERSONAL DATA ON YOUR HOME NETWORK.
- Gmail in the cloud
- Quick books in the cloud
- Banking in the cloud
- Facebook in the cloud
- Google Docs in the cloud
- Stock Trading in the Cloud
No, nothing is ever completely secure, and certainly anything you put in the cloud can be hacked, but in my opinion, the level of security afforded by the cloud is far better than anything you can rig together on your home network.
Think about it…
Your bank spends hundreds of millions on staying ahead of hackers. You have secret pictures, secret questions that challenge you about your second cousin’s favorite hobby. They know when you coming from new or different IP address.
Gmail now tells you when there is a login from a non standard computer.
These modern cloud applications are about as secure as a consumer could hope for. For the same reason you should not keep wads of cash in a safe in your house, you should not keep any personal information on storage devices in your house. Let your dishwasher go hog wild, who cares. I catch hackers on my network all the time, they have hijacked a few servers to send spam and attack other consumers (my bad), but there is really nothing of interest laying around on any of my devices other than some geezer MP3 music, and my vacation photos on my iPad that nobody else wants to look at anyway.
But if you must secure important data in your home network yes go ahead and invest in a device like the Dojo, it can’t hurt, but before you do that change your habits and use the cloud whenever possible.
Art Reisman
NetEqualizer News Blog 
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