Netgear adds Armor to its routers to seriously boost their security levels

Netgear Armor

Netgear has revealed a new security service – in conjunction with Bitdefender – over at CES which will allow owners of its Nighthawk routers to better protect their home network against the likes of hackers and other malicious attacks.

Netgear Armor is described as an advanced multi-layer security solution which bundles Bitdefender Total Security anti-malware software in a single convenient subscription package.

It’s designed to provide an overarching defense at the router-level – so covering all your devices including tablets and phones, smart home gadgets and so forth – blocking all manner of cyber-threats.

Intruder alerts

That includes preventing users from visiting phishing websites and other malware-loaded sites with safe browsing and URL blocking features, as well as intrusion prevention counter-measures that stop rogue devices from joining your home network.

Armor is also able to scan your network for vulnerabilities, detecting problems which could present a security risk like out-of-date firmware, or weak passwords, providing tips and troubleshooting solutions into the bargain.

You also get extras like Safepay, a dedicated browser for secure transactions, so you can carry out online shopping with extra protective measures in place.

So when can you benefit from all this? Netgear says that Armor will initially be available on its Nighthawk AC2300 Smart WiFi router (model R7000P) which launches later this quarter. Following that, it will roll out to be available for the Orbi Whole Home WiFi system and other popular Nighthawk routers via firmware updates later on in the year.

Subscribers will get the first 90 days of use for free, whereupon the annual subscription will kick in at $70 (around £50).

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Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - 'I Know What You Did Last Supper' - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).