This review takes a close look at the Yoggie Pico, a Linux-powered, USB-interfaced firewall squished into a thumb drive-sized package. To test the device, Senior Editor Henry Kingman connects it to a Windows Vista PC, and pummels the setup with security auditing scripts downloaded from Nessus.org.

The Yoggie Pico works in conjunction with low-level Windows drivers that sit below the TCP/IP stack, commandeering network traffic from all interfaces, and routing it to USB and thence to the Yoggie, according to Kingman. The device is based on an Intel PXA270 SoC (system-on-chip), the same chip that serves as the primary application processor in many high-end smartphones. Among its other embedded software, the Pico contains a “13-layer” firewall stack, including various patented “agents.”

So, does it work? Can this tiny but powerful Linux-based system keep its cool under attack, when shoe-horned into a tiny USB key-sized enclosure?

Click below to find out, by reading the complete review:

 
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