Bitdefender - BOX 2 Smart Home Cybersecurity Hub - Black/White

If you have a household of internet connected devices, like cell phones, laptops, computers, cameras, security systems, tablets, vacuum cleaners, TVs, Stereos and oh so much more, then this is the best way to keep the wrong people from taking advantage of vulnerabilities of those things. The Bitdefender Box 2 is meant to sit between your Internet Service Provider and your network and monitor all traffic that goes out to the world wild web. As I have a modem and a router the setup was fairly simple. Using the Bitdefender Central app it required moving 2 cables from the router to the box and box to the router and it was up and running. However, in order for the Box 2 to actually see all the devices on the network, the router had to be changed to a bridge, which is also fairly simple on most modern routers. If you don’t already have a router, or your modem is the router, the Box 2 can provide router functions. The one thing I don’t like is that you don’t get to control many of the network features you normally do of a typical router, such as controlling your channels and guest networks. So, my router still provides the individual device connectivity. Your network IP is also then controlled by the Box 2, which I can’t find any way to change back, so I have just adapted. All of the control of the Box 2 is performed through the Bitdefender Central app with no local web interface. The app provides details of every device that is connected and for the most part identified the devices perfectly, providing their network names and device type. All devices that aren’t a computer or an Android device were identified as “Protected” while all the other devices showed as “Needing attention.” When checking the computers and phones it states that they are protected, but only on my home network and recommends installing local protection. If the device is not the device that you are currently using, then it will ask for an email to send you a link to the Bitdefender Antivirus Software for that device, otherwise you can choose to install locally if you are logged into the central site on a PC. As for protection it has notified me that it has blocked dangerous URLs, one in particular I still have no idea what it is and why my TV is trying to get to it, but others were on purpose and the site just showed a Bitdefender splash page that showed it was dangerous. Through the app I could allow the site, though it isn’t very clear where it goes when you allow it if you do it by accident. You have to go into the Settings > Whitelist if you want to remove it again. You can also pause a devices internet connection preventing them from using your internet all together. In addition to having local network protection you also get a year’s subscription to Bitdefender Internet Security for unlimited devices. This includes antivirus, optimizer and parental controls. All of these features can be monitored through the Central app and site as well. The software can be found through other reviews, but for the price, if you have more than 5 devices it is well worth the annual subscription. One feature I did not notice till I tried it with the Box 2 is the parental controls, once installed on the devices, allow for easy control and monitoring of your child’s devices. This can help limit what they can search for, who they contact, and the times or amount of internet they are allowed to use. However, it seemed to bog my son’s phone down a good bit and when I went to change the bed time hours, after hours, it would not give him access till we uninstalled parental controls. With the parental controls you do get to see more of what traffic is being used by them, but that is only devices being controlled. Though I’m not much of a major paranoid type person, the one thing I don’t like is the fact that I have another party that now sees every single thing we do on the internet. It was bad enough my ISP could do it, and even Bitdefender software pushes their VPN to help protect privacy. However, the Box 2 is seeing your traffic before it is put behind a single IP and using their cloud to help determine what is safe and what is bad. Though I do feel comfortable that some random hacker may be adverted and my kids will be safer, I just don’t like knowing they can see stuff and they aren't showing me what they get to see. Like it shows per day how much traffic is “protected” but what was in that traffic.

I received this in the mail and instantly tore open the packaging to install it. I initially did not feel this product was not too necessary for most homes so long as you use antivirus on your devices and practice safe browsing habits but I figured there are a lot of smart devices in my home that do not get protection or routine security updates… so it couldn't hurt. Upon unboxing the device appeared much smaller than I expected! It looks nice in any room and just makes things look extra high tech wherever you put it. The box has a start up guide, the unit, a CAT6 cable and the AC adaptor. Setup was a bit of a headache for me. I was planning on installing it with my existing router. I use FiOS so there is no modem box, just the ethernet going straight to my router. To set it up you must download the Bitdefender connect app, plug it in, connect to it on your phone via wifi directly, log in, set up your router in bridge mode, let it configure and gtg! Well, it wasn’t so painless for me. I was able to follow up to setting up the router… this was no problem from the side of bitdefender but my router I use did not support bridge mode! I was amazed by this seeing as how it is a high end router. I switched to my backup router which did indeed support bridge mode. I set it up but had to start over. The reason is that the bitdefender box uses a IP address starting with 172 when most home routers use a IP address starting with 192. Well I did not set up a static IP address in my router so I was unable to further configure it unless I put the IP range and Subnet mask to match. A rookie mistake yes but I am sure lots of consumers that prefer to not mess with such settings might have a hard time. Anyways, I did a factory reset on the Bitdefender Box 2 and my router to start over and after the reset, the Bitdefender Box 2 did not seem to allow me to enter any kind of setup. Turns out the solution was to erase the app from my phone and reinstall since logging in and out had no effect. Ok… so after getting it properly set up after a few hours… it worked just fine! I did not see any real noticeable performance hit. I pay for 150 mbps down and 150 mbps up. It was a tiny bit slower in my downlink but my uplink was pretty much on spot. My ping was a ms or two higher but again, nothing I would notice. It is hard to review how effective it is since unless something happens you probably won’t know, but… I visited a few sites that are meant to test your antivirus solutions and the results seemed good. First, the device gives you unlimited access to Bitdefender on your computer so the software was first to warn me of the sites to which I continued on. The Bitdefender Box 2 then blocked the website and gave me a message. I checked the app on my phone which told me I had had 6 malware attempts blocked so that was nice! The app also gives you an overview of how secure your network is. If there is a pc, tablet of phone that has bitdefender software available that is not installed it will offer to help you get it on your device (again, unlimited downloads for a year!). I think I will keep it as part of my networks as it adds piece of mind and does not affect performance to any noticeable effect. Plus… it looks cool! My only reason I deducted starts was for the painful setup process. Otherwise it is a great product!

If you think about it, every measure is taken to ensure that business data is protected. You may have heard of data breaches because a company did not properly protect their network or perhaps even employee error. How about protecting your home network? Personal home networks can be just as advanced as business networks. Many people work from home, have multiple devices connected on their home network but leave their home network open to anyone who is technically savvy enough to intrude. People use weak passwords or inadvertently download malicious content. The Bitdefender Box 2 is a home security solution neatly packaged in what looks like a bluetooth speaker. The box resides on a home network, monitoring, protecting and preventing. Configuration is relatively easy for someone with decent technical skills. If not, a call to Bitdefender's technical support department will be needed. Once configured, I did not notice any change in my Internet connection. Speeds remained the same. The devices offers quite a bit of protection. However (there is always one), a subscription is required to maintain the security. Out of the box a 1-year subscription is included. The first two features alone are worth it: Safe Browsing - prevent malicious content from being downloaded. Believe it or not, downloading malware is like blinking. You don't think about it, it just happens. Parental Control - Keep your family safe by filtering Internet content. Other features that home users rarely think about but equally critical as the top two: Exploit Prevention - Identify and block attempts to exploit vulnerabilities in your devices and network. Vulnerability assessment - Bitdefender BOX continuously scans, identifies and highlights network security flaws. Sensitive Data Protection - No sensitive information sent without encryption. This feature will identify whenever credit card information, authentication information or location data is sent over a non-encrypted connection and block the attempt. Brute Force Protection - The brute force protection technology will prevent hackers from taking control over your devices. Anomaly Detection - Bitdefender BOX understands how devices should behave under normal circumstances and is able to accurately identify, block and alert you upon any malicious activity. Device Management - Whenever a new device connects to your network, Bitdefender BOX promptly detects it and sends an instant notification to your Bitdefender Central app so you can take action and control what that device is allowed to do. Local Device Security - Bitdefender BOX includes Total Security, our award winning cybersecurity suite to protect all your laptops, desktops, smartphones and tablets, across Windows, macOS, iOS and Android. The feature rich Bitdefender 2 box is a must have for any home network. In this complex world, where everything is connected 24/7, a bit of protection is required.

At face value, the BOX 2 seems like a great idea. Use a dedicated * appliance * to safeguard your family and devices from malware, viruses, inappropriate websites, and hacking. Execution, however, lacks greatly. I had difficulties setting up the BOX initially due to, what I presume, was an error in their Android app. I called support immediately and they couldn't get me around it either. During the initial setup, I 'X'd out of the wizard as I was on the phone w/ them, and the rep couldn't tell me how to get back in to it. "Clear data and try again" they said. I found out later through my own experimentation there's an option buried in the settings to re-launch the BOX setup wizard. When they couldn't get me running, they simply told me to try an iOS device. Luckily my wife has one, or what would've been the choice?? The app experience, specifically logging in, differs on these platforms which further complicated matters. On Android I was able to login/create an account w/ my Microsoft Account credentials. On iOS this wasn't an option. On to the actual usage. Before the BOX, I had a Netgear Orbi 2-unit setup to blanket my house in solid wifi coverage no matter where you were. My internet connection is fiber, so the Orbi acts as my modem and my router by simply logging in as a PPPoE connection. None of the BOX's setup instructions addressed this scenario, other than telling me I should plug the box in to my Orbi, clone the network, and shut off my Orbi's wifi - a non-starter of a solution. No matter, after some playing around on the BOX mobile app (the * only * way to configure the unit) I discovered you can give the BOX the PPPoE credentials and it, too, can act as the modem & router for your network. I coupled this with the "passthrough" ethernet ports on the BOX to devise a setup where I can still use my Orbi's mesh wifi coverage, but at least get some network protection from BOX. Said another way, my box now sits *between* my Orbi and the outside world, and I don't use its wifi access point for anything. This is another sticking point; you can't shut off the BOX's SSID broadcast - seems a silly oversight for something that's supposed to be a security appliance. So, in my setup I have [world] - BOX - Orbi - [my devices] in order to still benefit from the mesh wifi coverage the Orbi provides (and I require) while still gating my network from outside attackers (I hope?). My fear here is that should somebody get in to my Orbi's wifi network, it'd be "behind" the BOX and therefore unprotected; this is, I guess, why they say you want the BOX to be your new wifi AP - but that just isn't an option for me. After some more research and sleuthing the forums I found I had to turn my Orbi in to AP mode instead of Router mode. This gave me the coverage of the Orbi, but a direct line to the BOX; exactly what I needed. The downside? I lost the Circle parental controls of the Orbi and since the BOX doesn't have VPN capabilities (another odd thing for a security appliance to be missing) I can't use my VPN service to protect all my internet traffic anymore either. On top of this, I've got no experience with BitDefender and was surprised when I went in to my account after setting up the BOX to discover "Subscription: Active | 365 days" next to the BOX unit in my profile. It’s not clear to me that I have to pay for this year after year and, if so, I won't be keeping it. In my opinion the only reason I spent hundreds of dollars on a security appliance is to avoid ongoing subscription fees. Otherwise it should just be offered like an ISP modem rental. Moreover, online chat support couldn't even directly answer this question - they had to ask me to fill out a form they could send over to the BOX support people who would "get back to me". Just more wastes of my time. 3 days later I received the reply that indeed, BOX only works as long as you pay a $100 yearly subscription fee. I won't be renewing. Especially since Netgear is said to be upgrading their Orbi offering w/ built-in BitDefender security in the near future for only $70/yr. With respect to its performance, after a week protecting my home network it shows having blocked only 1 "phishing" attempt. In order to see the details of this attempt, I had to log in to BitDefender Central, look at the Notifications area, and the only details I got were "url: , type: phishing". Bottom line: It's a nice security blanket but is more of a black BOX than something you can really prove is worth the $99/yr subscription. Customer support was woefully inept in the two interactions I had with them within 24 hours of receiving my device.

I have been waiting to hook up the Bitdefender 2 until I received either my repaired or replaced Linksys EA9500 Router in order to test out the difficulty that some people have reportedly said to have had with the installation process. But since I still have yet to receive the router along with the numerous review's covering the setup of the Bitdefender 2 with a secondary router setup in Bridge mode, as well as falling behind on deadlines, I've decided to go ahead and set it up in a stand alone Router set-up in order to test the Bitdefender's WiFi abilities along with the user app to see if it could be used effectively with only 1 Ethernet port while most of our devices connected wirelessly. To my surprise after 2 weeks of almost all of our network being connected wirelessly the Bitdefender 2 Is not only holding it's own, but performing flawlessly with only a slight decrease in speed compared to the Linksys EA9500 tri-band wireless router speeds, for the one week it actually worked. I tested both routers two hour's after each had been setup but I did have to use two different ways of testing the speeds so I cannot be 100% sure of the accuracy, but am fairly confident that the Bitdefender 2 was only 12 mb's slower or about 10% slower than the Linksys. Which is much better than some of the professional reviewer's website's testing showed a 25% slow down when downloading large files. We have not experienced any noticeable slowdowns anywhere close to those extremes. Although we have lost a little bit of Wi-Fi coverage which has been only noticeable when sitting out on the deck and in the back yard but that will be fixed with the return of my router. But otherwise from streaming video's to my wife's music app's while she works from her home office through an access point connecting her to their VPN. And since I work night's and only occasionally get home early enough in the mornings to replay WWII in 7.1 surround, to my wife's dismay, mainly Friday morning's when I have all day to play game's on the Xbox One or streaming movie's from Netflix while the wife is working and still have not been able to create any kind of significant traffic to cause any stuttering, bottlenecks, slowdowns or any other kind of network disruptions. As far as the initial set-up was a breeze and I had the router up and running in 15 minutes and the Bitdefender Central app works seamlessly with the Bitdefender antivirus app I have been using for a few month's. Then they have made installing the Total Security software very easy by emailing the appropriate link to your own email address from within the central app under each device and allows you to upgrade any and all device's as I upgraded all of our laptop's from the Bitdefender Total Internet Protection to Bitdefender Total Security and was very happy to see it extended our coverage time to include the unused time from the Internet Security to give me over a year and a half's worth of coverage before the yearly subscription comes due. Which Bitdefender includes the best antivirus protection for all of your devices plus giving you the piece of mind that everything in your home is protected including every little oddball device you can imagine all the up to every piece of your home entertainment system including your stereo receiver, blue ray player's, gaming system's, to whichever smart TV you could ever imagine. It's the best protection against any malware, viruses, ransomware, and anything that a hacker could or will do if given the opportunity and this little device could have saved me hundreds of needless hour's of work repairing pc's that I built for people and all the other's I ended up fixing through referrals due to laziness or mostly from letting antivirus protection become outdated since when they paid for it, and they didn't ever see it do anything for them! Until eventually having some sort of problem usually in the form of the dreaded Blue Screen of Death or more commonly known as the BSOD! So I cannot recommend the Bitdefender 2 enough! If not for your own safety & piece of mind than at least for your family's safety and if that isn't enough then for God's sake do it for your poor computer tech guy who thanks to you will be retiring at 55 unless his heart explodes from unnecessary stress.

I feel more secure that all of my smart connected home devices are protected. This device would prevent a hacker from entering your home network through any of your internet connected device. Nowadays there are tons of connected devices besides computers, smartphones, and tablets that use the internet, such as TVs, game consoles, printers, security system and cameras, refrigerators, garage door opener, lighting fixtures/bulbs, and etc… The Bitdefender BOX has a nice clean and futuristic look. With the Quick Start Guide, the setup is easy and straightforward. You will need to download an app and create an account, the app will guide you through the rest of the setup process. The app will instruct you to plug the power cord into the device and the wall outlet, then wait for the LED. Next, connect the box to your Wi-Fi network, this step has three options (1) use the Wi-Fi router from your internet service provider (ISP), (2) use your own personal Wi-Fi router or (3) use the Bitdefender box as a standalone Wi-Fi router. My setup was very easy without an issue; for my setup, I used my Wi-Fi router. One excellent feature of this device is that if you encounter any issue during a setup you may call the 24/7 free setup assistance number. Once everything is set up, the Bitdefender scans all connected devices and continuously search for any weakness. The app will let you know of ongoing events and this will help prevent security threats. It really blocks suspicious links and blocks them; they can be phishing attempts. If you are certain that a link is safe, you can simply allow it with the Bitdefender Central app. Nowadays it is very important to protect our data, such as family photos, digital documents, and credit card bank information. If your network is not protected you have a possible cyber vulnerability. The device includes the Bitdefender Total Security software to remotely protect your computers. The subscription is for one-year and is for unlimited devices. The device also includes various parental safety controls, such as setting content filtering, manage daily internet usage, blackout potential harmful persons, and monitor texts. To close, I highly recommend Bitdefender to protect your home network with a complete cybersecurity.

What's Included --------------- Bitdefender BOX 2 Smart Home Cybersecurity Hub Getting Started Guide Network cable Power adapter Summary ------- These days, every other thing in your house is connected to the internet. you name it, Alexa, Google mini, your smart tv, Roku, Amazon Fire, Xbox, your light bulbs, sprinker system. So, on how many devices can you really have anti-virus software running? May be 20% of those, namely, your smartphones, tablets and your computer. Every smart device has your personal information saved in it. In the Era of using alexa or a google to order a pasta sauce, think about it, its almost becoming like publicly available information to a smart hacker unless you put in something like the bit defender box to safegaurd your entire home network. So how does it do? i think it does a great job protecting your network also more importantly notifying you of what and why it blocked something. In addition, you also get parental controls which is a good plus. I wish it did not have the yearly fee of 99$ for unlimited devices which will kick in the 2nd year. 1st year is free for unlimited devices. Looks ----- it is a slightly large box, kind of similar to the router, so i did have to make some additional space to my router, modem setup which i try to hide out from public in my family room , so i have one more thing to hide now, the box. Setup ----- Setup will take you about 30 minutes and you will need to download the bitdefender central app on your phone available on both android and playstore. You can connect it in one of the 3 ways - to the built in modem router, connect to your router which in turn is connected to the modem or connect to the modem which means your bitdefender box will act a router. Most people will chose the 2nd option like i did. They also have a youtube video to help you setup How does it work ---------------- Once setup is complete, bitdenfender box scans your network and gives you a run down of the devices connected to the network. Once on it, you can test it out using your smartphone or computer and try one of the shady sites, it will actually block you and show a message on your computer or smartphone. If you go to the bitdefender central app, it will also show you more details on what was blocked and why. It will also let you create user profiles. I tried one of the things, when my son was constantly on the fire tablet, i actually blocked his access through the app which i think is pretty cool. One of the frature that i did not try and they claim it works is trying to send sensitive information in an insecure channel or website and bitdefender box blocking it. The Bitdefender box also will let you add exceptions to anything that is automatically blocked enabling you to continue at your own risk which i think is good because it gives you that human override feature. Tbe best feature is the parental control which will let you rationing of internet, which i know some of the more expensive router do provide but this one comes with complete network protection which is a good combination.

I’ve used just about all types of antivirus and anti malware software but this is my first test of a hardware based protection system. To just call a hardware based antivirus/antimalware system does not do it justice. Think of it like an enterprise level firewall and router for all the devices in your home - mobile devices, pc’s and all connected devices ( including IoT devices such as cameras, locks even lights.) It is an impressive idea in a small package. Key points : Set up - The set up took me less than 10 minutes from start to finish. Very simple and straight forward. I did not like that it can be only set up from a mobile device but this is the way of so many vendors these days. Regardless, I liked the approach of the setup. You have 3 options, use your router from your ISP and clone your network, use your own router and install it as a bridge device or install it as standalone router with it’s own network. I chose to use it as a standalone router with a newly created network. I would not recommend it as your only network, I chose this option as a way to connect to a secure network for my PC’s. There is some network latency when this device is installed so I prefer to have a network for gaming and a network for my PC’s ( where my most sensitive data is i.e. Banking etc.) Operation - Once everything was installed, the app began discovering the devices I had connected to the network. After some odd behavior , everything ran smoothly. For some reason the app required I reboot my Mac before it listed it as secured ( I did it twice.) It also did not discover my Ipad until I backed out of the app and went back . I can tell you I have Bitdefender antivirus installed on the devices so maybe that had somehting to do with . Not sure , it is a minor quibble anyway. A major issue , which I have not be able to isolate, is that my Mac kept disconnecting from the new network internet and I could not reconnect. My Ipad worked fine but I have only been able to reconnect a few times after I waited a while. After a few minutes, I would lose internet. I would normally think it was my computer but since I can connect to my other networks with no issues, I think the issue is with the Bitdefender Box itself but I cannot tell. Performance - As a router, it is meh. It is AC1900 spec so it should be fine in most applications. It is MIMO with a 3x3 antenna array and dual band 2.4/5GHz. If you do not know what it means, it is not important in a buying decision. What I did see was average performance as a router with slight throughput degradation the farther I got away ( line of sight.) I live in an apartment and the contruction is tough on wifi. Once I got outside or in the far corner, I did see a drop. Not terrible but I can see a large home or older plaster/brick home causing some issues. As a protection device, it is unbeatable. Obviously I could not test all malware, phishing and virus attacks but there are several websites that you can test various types of attacks and nothing got by the Bitdefender Box. Overall , I like the idea but it is hard to get by that my Mac kept dropping the internet. I tried restarting, disconnecting and reconnecting and other tests. All were to no avail. I cannot say definitively it is the Bitdefender Box and I have not been able to test it on my other PC’s as yet. I like the idea and the design. In my opinion, it should never be used as your primary network, the router is just average and I am not sure the performance will be on par with ISP and your own router ( the Bitdefender Box only has 1 WAN port.) What I do not like is the cost, at $250 plus $99 per year after the first year, it is getting pricey for what you get. If I were Bitdefender, I would make a full feature router with multiple ports, a better radio and a lifetime subscription. Charge more for it, but make it so it blows the competition away. I am going to give it 3 stars based on I could not get it work properly on my Mac, the router and the cost. Hard to recommend because of my issue but don’t let my one experience sway you. Based on it being a security device alone, it is 5 stars. If you have security concerns, give it try.