As a reseller of Untangle for Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines, Futuregen is proud to highlight the top of mind questions about the affordable network security software from Untangle.

Why do you need a network security software to secure your network?

If your network is connected to the internet, chances are you are being attacked, spammed, spoofed, or your enterprise assets are being compromised…without you even knowing it! It’s scary.

Securing your network not only protects your enterprise assets, it also ensures that your web facing applications are available to users when they need it. To learn more, here is a short video on the Untangle Network Security Software http://www.untangle.com/video_overview.

If network security is so important, why aren’t other businesses securing their network?

Two factors: Cost and expertise. Top of line security products do cost a lot. It comes with esoteric commands that require a highly trained security professional to operate.

But these are things of the past. Untangle's solution is not only free to download, it is also easy to use. The graphical interface enables you to set options and then wait for the executive summary reports to arrive via email!

With Untangle's solution, there really are no excuses for not protecting your network.

What can Untangle do as a Network Security Software?

Well a lot! Here is a list of what it can do, and we call the term in the security industry:

Router. Provides basic routing functionality, and DHCP and DNS servers. It may already be installed depending on the selections made during the setup wizard. If there is already a router on the network, there is no need to install the Router unless replacing the current firewall/router. Router makes the Untangle Server act like a router that by default serves DHCP and DNS with an internal IP of 192.168.1.1, much like a Linksys or Netgear router.

Firewall. You can define what types of traffic can enter your network. So it enables your network to show a ‘smaller attack footprint’ on the internet. In short, it limits the points of entry that are open to hackers.

Web Filtering. It blocks your employees from time-wasting and unproductive surfing. You control what sites are allowed and not allowed for users inside your network. Best of all, you can just select categories like violence, hacking, sex and the software will do the rest!

Spam Blocker. Uses all sorts of spam technologies like blacklists, bayesian filters, signatures, and optical character resolutions to scan email and detect spam. After installing Spam Blocker, it scans SMTP, POP3, and IMAP traffic and can block spam as it enters your network. Users won’t even need to download the spam, and frees them from having to delete it!

Virus Blocker. Scan all network traffic for viruses and drop them. No software is required on the end user desktop: all the scanning is done on the traffic as it transits through the Untangle server. Virus Blocker provides a great solution for those without virus protection on the end user desktops or for those wanting an extra layer of virus protection. Virus Blocker is completely configured by default and requires no extra tinkering or configuration.

Spyware Blocker. Protect users from websites and files that install malicious codes. Spyware Blocker uses numerous techniques to stop spyware from entering your network and stop users from going to places which infect them from spyware. This can save numerous hours of tracking down weird problems and slowness issues caused by malware and spyware.

Intrusion Prevention System. Protects the network from known attack signatures by preventing them from reaching their targets. Using snort signatures, Intrusion Prevention can detect, block, and log attacks. Intrusion Prevention is preconfigured with good defaults to maximize protection and minimize false positives. It gets zapped at the gateway!

Attack Blocker. It is a heuristic based intrusion prevention application which blocks attacks like floods and port scans based on reputation. Attack Blocker also requires no configuration.

OpenVPN. VPN solution that provides remote connectivity directly into the network over an SSL connection. Install OpenVPN and configure the OpenVPN application as a server and go through the setup wizard. In the exported address step, add any addresses to the list which users should be able to reach remotely. In many cases, this is the entire internal subnet, but it can be limited to only a few servers for security reasons.

If it’s a free Network Security Software, how does Untangle make any money?

Untangle sells commercial add-ons for advanced networks. These are sold as subscriptions. Commercial Add-ons include live support, advanced management features and applications for additional security and remote access.

How much does the Untangle Network Security software cost?

Many will get everything they need for free, but with Commercial Add-ons starting at just $5/mo anyone can afford Untangle. The Professional Package with live support is the best value and it starts at just $25/mo. Full price list available online.

Does it cost anything to join?

Nope. And training is free too. If you’ve got customers with spam, spyware, web filtering or remote access needs, we’d love to work with you.

How does subscription licensing work, if I have multiple offices and want to install an Untangle Server with the Professional Package at each one?

The software license is governed by each Untangle Server and the network it services. We have four pricing tiers based on the number of personal computers on the network. The tiers are 1 – 10, 11 – 50, and 51-150, and 151+.

Let’s look at an example:

You have a main office with 78 employees and two branch offices with 25 and 7 employees respectively. You install an Untangle Server in each office and want to run the Professional Package on all three servers. Your subscription would total $225/month broken out as follows:

$150/mo for the main office with 78 employees (51 - 150 license)

$50/mo for the branch office with 25 employees (11 – 50 license)

$25 for the branch office with 7 employees (1 – 10 license)

Additional discounts are available for longer commitments.

What is the difference between personal computers on the network versus employees?

Untangle’s subscription licensing is by personal computers on the network. If your employees share a set of common computers, you should base your license on the number of computers, not the number of employees. Likewise, if your employees have more than one personal computer each, the license is still based on the total number of personal computers.

If you are as excited as we are at this point, your next action should be to download the Network Security software http://www.untangle.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=226&Itemid=739 and just try it out! You can also email marketing[at]futuregen.sg for any support or pre-sales inquries. Or visit http://www.futuregen.sg/data-center/affordable-network-security/ and talk with an online hosted solutions expert.