What a smart firewall does and why it matters on home Wi-Fi

Most of us think of home Wi-Fi as the invisible connection that lets a laptop stream a movie, a phone display photos and a printer work from across the room. In practice, it is also the meeting point for many devices, accounts and types of information. A typical home network may include computers, phones, tablets, smart speakers, televisions, cameras, printers and connected appliances. These devices regularly send and receive data.

Some of that traffic is expected, such as opening a bank website or downloading a software update.