Couple of hours ago, after a two and a half month wait, I finally received the GateKeeper Card Pro from Yoggie.
Some of you may have heard about it when Engadget mentioned it on April 23rd. That's actually the first time I found out about it - and the good guys from Yoggie promised they'll ship one out for a review as soon as they have them available. I must mention - they've been more than kind ;)
For those who do not know what it is: GateKeeper Card Pro is a Linux-based Mini-Computer integrated onto an Express Card. This little computer is a hardware-based security appliance in charge of your laptop's security from the moment it is plugged in.
It comes with Anti-Virus, Anti-Spam, Anti-Spyware, Firewall, Intrusion Prevention, Anti-Phishing, Web Filtering / Parental Control, Transparent Email and Web Proxies, even a VPN Client, and more!
You might ask yourself WHY in the world you need this - when you can simply install all of these applications onto your computer and have it take care of itself?
There are many answers but one I like the best is - less bloating for your machine! All that software takes valuable resources from your laptop which could be used for giving you more performance.
This is the main reason why corporations do not use software-based firewalls and security systems, but rather, hardware devices which offer physical separation from network. This is exactly how the GateKeeper Card works.
Before any data is accepted for processing by [your] computer’s operating system, a low-level driver redirects it to the Gatekeeper Card Pro unit where a full security check is performed. Security breach attempts are identified and thwarted, and only safe, secure data is passed back to the computer.
GateKeeper simply sits between your network connection and your computer and intercepts all the data coming through - in either direction. It gets installed into your Network Adapter configuration right next to the "Client for Microsoft Networks" and "File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks", as "Yoggie Personal Security Appliance" (see the picture in gallery).
