Keeping the whole family digitally safe with CUJO Smart Firewall

Most people don’t really understand how our smart homes can make our families more vulnerable to hackers. Just about any device that is connected to the internet can be hacked! From smart fridges to alarm clocks! Hackers are now using vulnerable technology that isn’t on everyone’s mind as ways to get into your network and onto all your machines and walk away with your must personal information. Add children to the mix who might well be savy, might not have any idea about real internet security.

Just a few weeks ago while my kid were having a sleep over I found one of my friends children had used the smart TV’s browser to get into a foreign hosted site were he was streaming a movie that is still in theaters. All lectures aside though, the issue on my mind right away was the risk to our network. So I said something along the lines of “How clever, but what about viruses?” in hopes of learning something that would calm me down. The boy was clueless…. he had no idea there was a risk in all the buttons he clicked on for pop ups and pop backs. He just said his parents allowed and that just streaming wasn’t illegal. I wasn’t about to argue that point or the morality or any of that. I was impressed he could do it but disappointed he didn’t understand the risks or how to mitigate them. Mostly I was disappointed that it happened in my home and I hadn’t even considered that possibility and how it potentially risked our personal data. From a 3DS to simply cell phones kids use for wifi games, there are vulnerabilities. Every time there is a kid in this house, the first thing they want to know is “What’s the wifi password?” and of course that is risky.

So this is the easiest solution possible for everyone. Professional protection that is business quality but for everyone! This one of the things we are using to keep our family safe. A loved one happens to have a really cool ethical hacking job and they were happy to hear of us putting into good use at home.

(photo taken while setting up CUJO Smart Firewall)

 CUJO Smart Firewall connected to your Wifi and it protects all those devices from things like

 malicious sites, viruses, and hacks. 

While some of your home devices have anti-virus not all of them do! CUJO Smart Firewall is like virus protection for the whole network. Now I am not saying you can just up and give up your beloved anti-virus program, I am saying I feel better about my wifi enabled pressure cooker not being hacked and blowing up while on a CUJO Smart Firewall protected WiFi. (Not that I have heard this happening…. but you get the idea!)

 So what kinds of things can be hacked? If it is touching your wifi there is a possibility it could be hacked. From cars to baby monitors, things get hacked! So what kinds of things are touching your wifi? 

Tablets

Cell Phones

Smart TVs

Printers

Baby Monitors

Security Systems

Digital Picture Frames

Gaming Systems

Toys

Fridges and Kitchen Appliances

Air Quality Divices

Smart Watches

Clocks

Internet Radio

Lights and Lamps

and a lot more!

 

There is simply so many ways to digitally get into my home! Everyone thinks they are not a target until they are! I too often feel like a sitting duck because keeping up with it all can seem impossible. CUJO Smart Firewall is on top of it.

Best of all, anyone can buy CUJO Smart Firewall at Best Buy and anyone can set it up. It is designed to be plug and go with an app for IOS or Android. You control the CUJO

Follow the instructions, they are simple I swear it for everyone, from the common set up to the more complicated some of us rare families have. (Thanks to subpar equipment because of our internet provider…. I don’t need to say their name!)

 

You can watch the cute short video and off you go. Or you can flip the card and talk to someone who can walk you through it!

And if all else fails, you can have them send someone out to install it for you. Truly though I think 95% of people can do this on their own and it is so worth it!

  This company is so cool, right from the get go they impressed us. You see my husband set up the app, it asks for your phone number. He then went on to set up CUJO. This took a little longer than it will most people because of the hardware issue due to slowcast, I mean our internet provider! So we had to use a work around that took my husband a few minutes to do. So CUJO called us noticing we set up the app account but not yet had our CUJO online. How cool is that. No help needed, but it was clear there if it had been. How great is that? How often do companies just call and ask if you need help? Fantastic!

 

A few of the many reasons beyond the security side that might interest parents about CUJO Smart Firewall

 

Parental controls features:

                  – parental controls for all devices

                  – internet filter

                  – time limits

                  – social media monitoring

                  – pause internet

                  – alerts and reporting

                  – remote administration

                  – user profiles and settings

CUJO sends notifications to your phone and you can change settings of course, but getting live updates about your network life is fantastic!

You can group devices into groups, such as “Littles” who we want to lock down as much as possible and less so for the adults in the house. This includes their tablets and cell phones too! CUJO Smart Firewall will record threats that it thwarts and you can see them. My husband is really curious if he can simulate an attack and how it will handle it. He is like a kid in a candy store with this!

CUJO Smart Firewall makes a fantastic gift for your kids and grandkids, great for holiday gift giving to parents and grand parents, to those you know who are interested in keeping their data safe, and those who SHOULD be interested in keeping their data safe. With all the things that are online now, it isn’t just about the data anymore! Cars have been hacked…. homes can be vulnerable too! We must be vigilant about safety. I like that this product adds a layer of protection to everything on our home network now!

 

 

 

In other news…. my parents need this! Funny story, well not funny haha but funny interesting. Ok, I laughed a lot when I saw it. Perhaps you had to be there. My Dad told me he was getting weird calls all of a sudden and he thought there was a virus on my Moms machine. Ok, not so weird right…. we could fix at least part of it. Taking a look at the machine, the hacker had control of the laptops camera and had been taking photos of my parents kitchen. (They literally only use their laptop while sitting at a table all proper like! I love that about them, they really respect their technology in ways the rest of us, me, abuse it.) So I burst out laughing thinking about how awful this randsomware could have been in many peoples situations. Cover the camera and get husband involved. He managed to free the machine without having to wipe it even. That is the first time, only time, I have seen a hack like that in person and it just felt epic, and horrible of course, but epic! Ever since them my household uses different things to cover our cameras. We have never had a “fun” virus but it happens. I rather not let them record me snoring personally. Of course they could hack your speakers and hear everything…..  Anyway, so my current camera cover, the kind I like best is bandaids. Yup, kids bandaids. They softly cover the camera and keep it safe and not sticky so I can still remove it when I need to use it for video conferencing with other bloggers, clients, and friends and family. My husband rather use sticky notes over his. I find those fall off too easy though with how manhandled my machine is. All this to say, my parents need a CUJO Smart Firewall, I think everyone does. Even if you think your safe! 

 

 

The reviewer has been compensated in the form of a Best Buy Gift Card and/or received the product/service at a reduced price or for free.