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Smart home cybersecurity is extremely important. IoT devices are becoming increasingly common, with new technology emerging almost every day. The market is being disrupted however, by hacks and various security breaches which are largely driven by flaws inherent within IoT devices. Unfortunately, cyber criminals are always finding ways to exploit these targets, and so now they are striking our home. Protection starts with identifying your own network vulnerabilities, because that is precisely what enterprises do. They also test the security of these devices and mostly to ensure that any weaknesses are uncovered.
Picking Up Where We Left Off
As discussed in a recent blog post, the first and best way to protect against these persistent threats is to keep all software and firmware up to date. This is often the best solution or fix against the vast majority of vulnerabilities. Firmware is what drives the hardware on your devices which interact with software applications, so both are crucial. Firmware usually is built into all IoT devices. But even peripherals such as Bluetooth devices will run on some type of firmware. For example, if you use wireless headphones, the firmware allows the software to communicate with the speakers and your computer, phone, etc. The software allows you to choose your favorite song or podcast and feed it to the device firmware, which then translates the music, file, or stream into sound.
Responding to Risk for IoT Devices
Criminals can often use harmless IoT devices (and not just personal computers or smart phones) to construct botnets, which spread additional malware. They basically hijack devices into becoming their own army of digital zombies. These botnets are also used in coordinated cyber attacks, known as Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS). This is where a computer, server, router, or network/domain in general is taken offline by a flood of digital requests that are instigated by the botnet. It overwhelms the services running on that IP domain, and forces it into a state of vulnerability previously known. The average smart home cybersecurity is easily improved by a few simple measures.
“The most prevalent threat is automated attacks that are trying to take over devices as they would personal computers, to assemble into a group that can be used for their own purposes.”
A Demand For Change in Home Cybersecurity
In the most literal sense, this problem cannot go ignored and a resolution is in high demand. Enterprises keep their digital doorways locked and secured through a variety of layers and techniques, which also are meant to prove the integrity of their systems. Hence vulnerability assessments and penetration tests. But speaking of DDoS attacks and botnets from IoT devices, an analysis of this problem in Smart Home networks is being actively assessed by the cyber security community.
“The DDoS attack is more vulnerable than a normal Dos attack because here the sources of attack origin are more than one, so users cannot even estimate how to detect and where to take actions so that attacks can be dissolved.”
The Enterprise Method
Simius is running this basic malware detection for our customers to identify these points of risk. If your system has been compromised, then Simius can help you to detect where these threats are currently active. So you may very well find that there is a botnet running from a device on your network, but would have gone otherwise previously unknown. By identifying this problem, you can isolate, quarantine, update and fix the devices which have been compromised.
One might wonder, is this not just a bunch of technical nuances, resulting from unnecessary complications? Yes, and although that is nice to know, we as IoT consumers still need to overcome this problem. The solution is typically quite simple but most people are not aware of best practices adopted for tackling the problem throughout the cyber security industry. A large part of the focus is toward enterprise, but few solutions currently exist on smart homes. There is much that can be accomplished for you with Simius. Smart home cybersecurity can be revolutionized overnight if people are capable of monitoring these issues.
Prevent Cyber Threats
Using enterprise-grade cyber security tools inside your smart home is useful. It means that you are providing yourself with an added advantage, done through discovering your vulnerabilities. Finding active threats is something we offer at your disposal and we make it easy. Therefore, you become fully capable of mitigating these pesky occurrences but without too much time involved. So this will keep your edge sharp through smart home automation of best practices in cyber security, that are already made standard.
Be fearless. You are very much alike the family house cat, who is hunting a common mouse. Simius is going to help you achieve that, and by setting traps for cyber criminals to fall into. They won’t even see it coming. A smart home being protected by a sharp edge is almost unthinkable to most cyber criminals because what they fear most is your empowerment.
Vulnerabilities Put In Perspective
You can make up your own mind through our trial offers. Since seeing, is believing. There is no way that the cyber criminals will stand any chance against you through Simius. We ensure you can have visibility to any vulnerabilities and active cyber threats. Enterprises have their own methods, and we are seeking to add that repertoire to your smart home automation. This so that you can take the appropriate action.
Game Over
Our customers gain an unprecedented advantage. For there is no turning back from this level of premium service, delivered at an affordable price. Enterprises use the same technology at a high paid premium. You will not just keep yourself safe because you’ll be advised immediately if there is a problem in your smart home technology, but you will also know what to do about it.
What the NSA Recommends…
Cyber criminals scan your home every day, so what are you doing to scan ahead of them and how can it enhance our smart home cybersecurity? According to the National Security Agency (NSA) the best practices for home network security are outlined as follows:
Best Practices For Cybersecurity
- Upgrade to a Modern Operating System and Keep it Up-To-Date.
- Exercise Secure User Habits.
- Leverage Security Software.
- Safeguard against Eavesdropping.
- Protect Passwords.
- Limit Use of the Administrator Account.
- Employ Firewall Capabilities
- Implement WPA2 [and WPA3] on Wireless Networks
- Limit Administration on the Wireless Network
Keeping your smart home safe starts with you. Being aware of your own weak spots will help you to strengthen them. It takes a team of professionals to keep an enterprise network secure, so what will it take to keep your smart home secure? Simius is constantly developing innovative solutions that provide this insight. The intent is so that you can make a decision on what to do and take action. But as any enterprise seeks to improve their business, the integrity of your smart home cybersecurity depends on using similar methods. So through the combination of various strategies and techniques, you can take control.
The NSA also recommends these online behavior recommendations:
- Follow Email Best Practices
- Take Precautions on Social Networking Sites
- Authentication Safeguards
- Exercise Caution when Accessing Public Hotspots
- Do Not Exchange Home and Work Content
- Use Separate Devices for Different Reasons
- Upgrade to a Modern Browser and Keep it Up to Date
A Worthy Challenge
We will cover these action items in further detail, but the point is to keep you aware. The first item is perhaps the most important. Recognize the signs of phishing scams. Don’t trust a random text message from an unknown cell phone number or email. For some strange reason, I have been seeing a bunch of phone texts coming through myself, and they are almost always something obscure. Some random email or number trying to phish. That’s okay it happens to the best of us and everyone.
So just know the signs. Stay vigilant and consider using Simius. We can help you identify the vulnerabilities before they become exploited. There is no telling what can be done to improve your own smart home convenience and keeping it secure at the same time. On a final note, we can address the ways in which cyber criminals will attack and how to mitigate the problem yourself. But it starts with you knowing how to take action to correct problems with your smart home network. Simius will help make that easy for you.
Summary
In this article, we discussed the benefits of using enterprise-grade cybersecurity methods in your home network, so that you can ensure the connected devices remain secure.
