Fingbox and Firewalls

How Fingbox is different than firewalls

Typical firewalls re-route all of your Internet traffic indiscriminately. This can slow down your network and prevent it from operating. By contrast, Fingbox actively monitors your network infrastructure on all of your devices without re-routing any traffic unless needed. Fingbox selectively and temporarily re-routes traffic only when you use features including bandwidth analysis, device blocking and internet pause, without impacting any other device on your network. Fingbox compliments your existing network set-up and guarantees a hassle-free user experience.

The biggest difference between the Fingbox network security and troubleshooting toolkit and devices such as CUJO, Bitdefender Box, Dojo and Disney’s Circle is that Fingbox is not a firewall. The types of threats that firewalls and Fingbox protect against and their methods of doing so are different.

Prevention against physical network threats

Firewalls aim to protect from Internet-based threats, such as malware, so Firewalls filter all of your network's information through them in order to block suspicious activity. By contrast, Fingbox prevents physical network hacking and Wi-Fi eavesdropping, the latter of which is a form of network hacking that goes undetected by firewalls and anti-viruses. Fingbox does this with features such as intruder alerts and device blocking. Unlike Firewalls, Fingbox also performs troubleshooting on your network to improve your Wi-Fi’s health.

Lightweight monitoring and no network slow downs

Fingbox uses a lightweight form of monitoring when it monitors the status of your devices. By contrast, firewalls usually re-route all of your network traffic through them so they can inspect the packets of what is send over your network.

Some users have noted that firewalls can cause significant network slow downs because they hog/take over your network. As a result, many users turn off the device because of the network slow downs.

There is no risk that Fingbox will slow down your network because it does not re-route traffic through the device.

Troubleshooting features

In contrast to firewalls, Fingbox includes extensive network troubleshooting features which improve the overall performance of your network. Firewalls usually focus more on security and less on troubleshooting; therefore, Firewalls usually do not encompass features for improving network performance.

DigitalFence™ network security feature

The DigitalFence™ is a security feature unique to the Fingbox. The DigitalFence™ identifies any device in the vicinity of your Fingbox that is Wi-Fi enabled, even if that device is not connected to your network. To date, Firewalls have not been released with any DigitalFence™ type network security features.

Click here to learn more about the Fingbox DigitalFence™.

Fingbox vs Firewalls: A summary

• Fingbox is not a firewall
• Fingbox uses a non-invasive form of monitoring
• Fingbox will not slow down your network
• Fingbox does not re-route all traffic through it as Firewalls do
• Fingbox does not inspect any of the packets send on your network
• Fingbox offers physical security on your network
• Fingbox includes extensive network troubleshooting features which are not commonly available in Firewalls

Read our blog piece on how Firewalls and Fingbox work for further information.

Firewall Compatibility and Required Ports: Does Fingbox work with Firewalls?

Yes. Fingbox is compatible with firewalls. Because of the distributed and resilient design of Fing services, we recommend giving Fing App and Fingbox full access to the Internet. To limit outbound connections while still ensuring, allow Fingbox to reach any IP address on the following TCP ports: 80, 443, 4443, 5671.

The ports needed for the Internet Speed Test, provided by M-Lab, include: 3001, 3002, 3003.

Firewalla compatibility with Fingbox

If you have issues using Firewalla and Fingbox together on your network, make the connection stable with Fingbox and Firewalla. To do this:

In the Firewalla app, turn off monitoring on Fingbox. This way, Fingbox will not report gateway change alerts.

If you do not use the blocking feature on Fingbox, trigger arp spoofing against devices will not be triggered. However, if you want to use the blocking feature, the arp spoof messages from Fingbox may cause interference with how Firewalla works. We recommend using the Firewalla app to block devices.

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