New home user of pfSense - Do I need more than this?

estwing

Hiya,

My new NP2100 arrived a couple of days ago, I had it up and running in no time at all, very pleased about that I was dreading it!

It's updated, my old router is now an AP for wifi, I have installed Snort and pfBlockerNG with default settings and writing logs. I haven't changed any other settings.

I've had a good look around pfSense, read a lot on the internet, everything seems to be working fine.

My setup is basic, I'm a single guy living alone, I work from home full time, my setup is..........

Lots of Apple stuff, Mac, MacBook, Apple TV's, iPhone, etc
A desktop voipfone
A Qnap NAS for Time Machine backups only, working fine
A Hikivision Network attached box and cams for security, the apps are all working for this
A doorbell cam, the apps are all working fine for this
A thermostat with an app

It's all on the same LAN. I have no need for a VPN, or to connect to my devices from outside the house, beyond what apps on devices can already do.

I can't help but think I need to be adding Firewall rules, or doing something else, obviously security is the priority.

What would you do in this scenario, what additional steps can be taken to secure the home network?

johnpoz

@estwing Normally from a security point of view, isolation of not so trust worthy devices from the rest of your network is good first step.

Cams and IOT have very low reputation for security.. Putting them on their own network, would be a good first step.

I have installed Snort

this to be honest is almost always going to cause you problems more than securing anything. A IPS/IDS is not something you just turn on and forget it. It takes tweaking and maint to successfully use it..

For starters out of the box it will be a flood of false positives.. The rules you use need to be adjusted for the normal traffic of your network.. And for what your trying to accomplish with the IPS/IDS..

estwing

Things to think about thank you.

I shall look at moving my IOT's to their own LAN.

I quote like a bit of tinkering, that's partly there reason I have pfSense, I'll persevere with Snort for a bit, see how it goes.