Straight from the school of innovative thinking, the lineup from Yoggie are devices with every conceivable security function crammed into an unit slightly larger than a thumb drive.  The design philosophy is to offload all IP based security functions into a dedicated piece of hardware and to deliver enterprise grade security to road warriors that are traditionally vulnerable in the field.

Yoggie claims 13 integrated security applications in the one device, aiming to mitigate both known and unknown threats. 

These include: 

  * Adaptive Security Policy™;
  * Multi-Layer Security Agent™;
  * Layer-8 Security Engine ™;
  * URL Categorization & Filtering;
  * Anti-Spam;
  * Anti-Phishing;
  * Anti-Spyware;
  * Antivirus;
  * Transparent Email Proxies (POP3; SMTP);
  * Transparent Web Proxies (HTTP; FTP);
  * Intrusion Detection System / Intrusion Prevention System;
  * VPN Client; and
  * Stateful Inspection Firewall.

The company offers solutions for home users, SMB & SOHO and corporate levels.  All of these solutions runs on a common platform with varying degrees of capabilities.  The device runs a hardened Linux OS on an Intel PXA270 XScale "SoC (System-on-Chip)" CPU, with separate caches of SDRAM, NAND and NOR Flash.  The idea is that it runs in conjunction with low-level Windows drivers that sits below the TCP/IP stack, commandeering network traffic from all interfaces and rerouting it to the USB and therefore to the Yoggie.  By the virtue of being a dedicated hardware device, it avoids the potential pitfalls of vulnerabilities inherent in the Windows OS and the reliance on Microsoft to issue patches.

For those who ever had to the headache of managing road warriors, Yoggie has a management appliance which can centrally manage devices that are already roaming in the field.  Configurations such as firewall rules, white/black lists, security level thresholds, VPN configurations, proxy scanner rules and IDS/IPS configuration can be immediately enforced through remote communications, assuming they are internet connected.

So can an user just unplug the Yoggie and be free of the constraints of a corporate policy?  According to Yoggie, a special device driver can be installed to override all networking devices, be it LAN, USB, modem, bluetooth, Wi-Fi or GSM if the Yoggie device is not present.  A lost Yoggie device can also be disabled by an administrator via the management appliance.  Additionally the management appliance can remotely disable a stolen notebook's network and internet access.

With all the options available, it is really horses for courses.  There is a definitely appeal having all the resources on a notebook available for what it's purchased for - be it work or play, and not lose a sizable chunk of that precious resource to security overhead.  The SOHO version sits in front of the router and protects up to 5 machines.  That results in savings from purchasing software solutions for 5 nodes, and having to set up configuration for those nodes.

Too often security software consumes large amount of resources and potentially conflict and interfere with other software.  The downside for a hardware device is that it can be physically damaged or lost.  Conversely, software can be corrupted and cause mayhem with the rest of the system.  As always it comes down to company policy and/or personal preference, but it is certainly refreshing to see products like Yoggie on the market.

Product pricing ranges from USD$179 to USD$249 depending on which device including first year subscription.  Annual subscription ranges from USD$30 to USD$69.  Support for XP and Vista (32-bit).