by Jeff Bordeaux

We are living in a time where the word security means a lot more than it use to. Homeland security, Airport security, and Internet security, all provide more jobs than they did 10 years ago. Not to take away any of those jobs but to aid in preventive maintenance, comes the Databreaker. The Databreaker was designed to work with laptops and external monitors to disrupt the internet connection when the computer is idle, therefore making one’s PC more secure and safe from hackers and the like.

How does it work?
The Databreaker is basically just another part of your signal chain, from your internet connection to your computer. One end plugs into your wall, while the other end accepts your incoming and outgoing signal from your modem. It also has a manual override switch so you can kill your connection whenever you want. The Databreaker senses when the monitor or laptop goes to sleep and disrupts the connection from there. To visually signify what is happening with your connection there is a green and red light on the Databreaker to show if the connection is going through or not. I tested it with an Apple power book, but it only worked with the manual override switch. The switch worked very affectively and took virtually no time at all to break and reestablish the connection. Honestly, I couldn’t review this product to the fullest because it only works in certain scenarios, which was disappointing to say the least.

What doesn’t it do?
The Databreaker doesn’t support any wireless scenario and doesn’t work with a router either. It also doesn’t work with my iMac G5. It only works with desktops that have external monitors and laptops with wired and a direct connection with the modem.

Overall??
The Databreaker is a worthy addition to your security precautions only if your scenario meets one of the aforementioned set ups. I have encountered internet fraud in my day, and if I had the right set up I would use it for sure as it only costs $30. However, it is somewhat limiting, given the broad range of today’s wireless everything.

Get it here

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