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Four years ago, as a result of a controversy over another launch based on Kickstarter, an Irish team decided to produce a better Wi-Fi router for confidential travel. Called InvizBox, the router was intended to facilitate connection to privacy-focused network services, such as VPNs and Tor's anonymization network.
It has happened a lot since then. And now, InvizBox has released a new iteration of its wired Wi-Fi router, InvizBox 2. Two years ago, the InvizBox team achieved its crowdfunding goals to go forward with this design. After a long road, this funding has finally paid off.
Totally open source, delivered with a VPN service capable of delivering up to 100 megabits per second of traffic (your broadband allows it), and easy to configure, this small disk-shaped router is powerful enough to constitute a router domestic servant. be used on the road when it is connected to a potentially hostile LAN in order to channel users to security. The router can also be used in conjunction with InvizBox Go, a mobile Wi-Fi router with VPN functionality, to create a secure tunnel to your home network. The base price for InvizBox 2 is $ 99, but a discount is currently available for orders made through the InvizBox website.
Supply chain security for any device that claims to focus on privacy is the key. Thus, while the routers themselves are assembled in China, for security reasons, InvizBox updates the firmware of each router in its offices in Ireland before shipping them. Firmware updates are automatically retrieved via a hidden Tor service.
From a hardware perspective, the InvizBox 2 is pretty awesome for an inexpensive router, powered by a quad-core ARM processor with 1GB of memory. InvizBox 2 has only two network interfaces (Gigabit Ethernet WAN and LAN). It must therefore be connected via a cable modem or another router to the Internet. If you have wired LAN needs, you will need to provide: your own hub or switch. But that also makes it suitable as a travel router.
Equipped with dual-band 2.4 / 5 GHz radios, InvizBox 2 supports up to eight network IDs, each assigned to a separate network SSID:
- Up to four simultaneous VPN connections;
- Two "open" networks (unencrypted);
- A digital connection; and
- A local Wi-Fi network without Internet access, for better isolated devices.
Each network can also be configured to isolate individual devices so that they can not see each other or configured to hide their SSID so that it is not announced. The Ethernet LAN interface can be assigned as a member of any of these networks by clicking a browser button. The administrative interface is for the most part user-friendly. And while it does not provide all the configurability of some other commercial routers, some more advanced features have been incorporated.
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The home page of the administrative interface of InvizBox 2.
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The network configuration offers different options depending on the type of connection it will use (VPN, Tor, open or no exit).
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Profiles can be assigned to specific devices to control what content they can connect to and determine if they can be remote via SSH.
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The system menu provides access to logs, firmware service and support utilities, and some performance data.
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The Status page displays the memory and processing load on the InvizBox 2 router.
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You can add SSH keys to associate with different devices for remote access without a password. But this feature is not yet well documented.
There are several options for VPNs with InvizBox 2. You can order a version for one of the VPNs supported by InvizBox (Windscribe, IPVanish, PrivateInternetAccess, NordVPN or ExpressVPN) or with InvizBox's own VPN service configured (with monthly billing , or with one or two years, prepaid, with significant discounts). The InvizBox VPN is based on OpenVPN, which means that you can also use it on a mobile device or a computer when you are away from your home network.
I have tested a preconfigured router for the VPN service of InvizBox. VPN speed depends a lot on where you are. My download speed and VPN download matched closely to my unsecured traffic to each of the destinations I selected for connections. InvizBox advertises a throughput of up to 100 megabits per second, which makes it suitable for streaming (in cases where streaming is not blocked by a VPN). Thanks to my Comcast Business connection of 50 megabits per second, I achieved speeds of up to 49 megabits per second for VPN points of presence nearby.
(It should also be noted that my daughter gave the InvizBox 2 a serious criticism, based entirely on her ability to access the British version of Island of love.)
InvizBox 2 also has a number of content and connection filtering controls. You can configure parental controls, as well as blocks for social networks, gaming sites, advertising domains, known malware domains, and even fake blacklists and lists-based information sites. white open source host.
Overall, InvizBox 2 is very successful in grouping privacy-based networks into a relatively easy-to-use package. The current disadvantages come mainly from the documentation of this device. For example, remote access to the SSH-based router is supported, but it is not well documented online and the documentation provided with the router is only a guide to Quick Start. Theoretically, the problem of documentation should be resolved over time as the site becomes more specific.
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