Routers offer a variety of security features that help to protect your networked computers and put your concerns at ease. To help you better understand these security features, they are divided into two levels:

Basic Level:

Network Address Translation (NAT) Technology - Prevents hackers from seeing and attacking your network address while you are surfing the web. NAT takes a public IP address and translates it into several private IP addresses, so a computer behind a router with NAT technology is difficult to see by outside hackers.

Advanced Level:

Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI) Firewall - Inspects packets of information coming into your system to make sure they are not an attack from a hacker. When information is requested from a Web site, it is sent out through the SPI router and is noted as a request destination. Any unfamiliar or unlisted destinations are rejected.

Virtual Private Network (VPN) - Enables communication over the Internet with another computer on your network using a secure, encrypted connection. VPNs are frequently used by businesses and home offices. It is commonly used by people traveling or working from their home who want to connect to their company's network to check e-mail or access business applications.