There are plenty of security appliances available to protect a small company network from hackers, viruses, spam and other Internet threats.

However, it can be a struggle to find the time and expertise to keep them up to date and working effectively. So why not pay someone else to do all the hard work?
For an annual fee, Network Box will supply the necessary appliance, pre-configured to suit your needs, and monitor and manage it for you.

There are several Network Box models to choose from, each running the same Linux-based software on hardware sized to suit the number of users involved.

We tested the SME 250, which can cope with 50-75 users on up to three separate local networks, with the option of multiple Wan ports for additional load balancing and/or backup of the Internet connection, if required.

Installation can be a DIY job or carried out by a Network Box engineer, which is easier but does cost extra. In fact, the DIY option isn’t that difficult with the appliance configured as a transparent bridge on most networks, so there are no changes to user PCs or network servers.

Just a couple of tweaks are needed to any existing router or firewall setup.

In terms of functionality you get just about everything you could want in the one box, starting with a stateful inspection firewall and an integrated VPN (virtual private network) server.

This can be used to connect branch offices together and support individual remote and mobile users, with help to configure clients also available if needed.

Network anti-virus protection is another standard feature, with a mix of Kaspersky, Clam AVG and Network Box scanners to filter viruses from all inbound and outbound traffic.

Likewise, there’s comprehensive anti-spam filtering of emails, using a mix of technologies, plus Surf Control content filtering and IDP (intrusion detection and prevention) tools.

All come ready configured as part of the managed service agreement, plus it’s possible to monitor the appliance locally and change some of the settings yourself.

By typing the name of the appliance into a browser, we could quickly see how many viruses had been blocked in the past few days, the volume of spam traffic and so on.

We could also drill down to get more detailed information and do things such as create custom spam blacklists, identify known safe senders and release messages mistakenly held in quarantine.

Plus we were able to edit the rules used by Surf Control to filter content, although the interface here isn’t as simple and most users would be advised to leave well alone

Indeed, apart from the odd look to see what had been blocked, we found we could leave the Network Box to get on with protecting our test network completely by itself.

Any updates required were pushed out and applied automatically and, when we turned the unit off, we were quickly advised by phone and asked to switch it back on. There’s also a 24-hour helpdesk should you need one-to-one assistance.

To check security, we downloaded dummy viruses, visited known spyware and other categorised sites, and pulled down mail using accounts with a known high spam content. All were blocked and filtered as expected and we were impressed with the level of protection.

Mobile workers still require separate desktop tools but, that apart, the Network Box appliance is a good choice for the hard-pressed small business, offering comprehensive network security with none of the hassle of a self-managed solution.