Untangle Whitepaper Internet of Things at Home

WHITEPAPER
THE INTERNET OF
THINGS AT HOME
THE INTERNET OF THINGS AT HOME WHITEPAPER 2
THE INTERNET OF THINGS AT HOME: year. According to Intel, the average household has ten
ARE YOU PROTECTED? connected devices, rising to 50 by 2020.2 Unfortunately,
those consumer IoT devices are often an easy target
The Internet of Things—which describes the push to for hackers, as most consumers do not understand
make everything from toasters and refrigerators to the impact these devices can have on their data and
lamps and thermostats connected to the internet—is networks if they are breached. Lack of a good password
now the norm for homes. Between smart TVs, countless combined with unpatched vulnerabilities contribute to
mobile devices owned by both family and guests, 87% of all IoT attacks.3
wearables and so much more, there are now dozens
of IP addresses in a typical house. It’s come to a point Many are familiar with the Mirai botnet attack in 2016
that, from an IT perspective, homes now have almost that took down websites like Etsy, GitHub, Netflix,
as much internet-connected technology in them as the Twitter and others. Devices that were running out-of-
average small office. date firmware and did not change default passwords
and usernames were taken over by the malicious code.
However, the IoT and connected home currently have a Enterprises are not the only target; schools and homes
major flaw: lackluster security. Hackers love going after with limited security are a target as well. In 2017, Verizon
IoT devices, especially ones inside the home. Between Wireless released a report4 that included an unnamed
issues with the connected objects plus poor network university that became the subject of an IoT device
security, this is a ripe target for cybercriminals. attack. More than 5,000 discrete systems were found to
be making hundreds of DNS lookups every 15 minutes.
CURRENT STATE OF IOT AND ITS The botnet spread via brute force attack to break through
RISKS weak passwords on IoT devices.5
IoT is no longer a trend: it is a way of life. According to “The underlying problem is that many IoT manufacturers
Gartner research, 14.2 billion connected things will be in are primarily designing their devices for functionality
use worldwide in 2019, reaching 25 billion by 2025.1 The and proper security testing often takes a back seat,” the
consumer sector is currently leading the way, accounting Verizon Wireless report states.
for more than 60 percent of all connected items in that
THE INTERNET OF THINGS AT HOME WHITEPAPER 3
Further compounding this issue is that many home

routers are not secure, giving cybercriminals another
avenue through which to exploit IoT hardware. “If a router
is sold at [an electronics chain], you don’t want to buy it,”
said independent computer consultant Michael Horowitz.
“If your router is given to you by your internet service
provider [ISP], you don’t want to use it either, because Untangle, Inc.
they give away millions of them, and that makes them a 100 W. San Fernando St., Ste. 565
prime target both for spy agencies and bad guys.”6 San Jose, CA 95113
www.untangle.com
HOW TO ACTUALLY SECURE THE IOT
Thanks to IoT, the connected home is now a reality.
However, homeowners, unlike business owners, don’t
have IT experts on staff. This means that network ABOUT US
oversight and security falls on their shoulders. 54% of Untangle is an innovator in cybersecurity for
IoT device owners do not use a third-party security tool the below-enterprise market, safeguarding
to protect their devices from outside threats – and more people’s digital lives at home, work and
than a third (35%) don’t change the default password on-the-go. Untangle’s integrated suite of
on their devices, leaving them vulnerable to attacks.7 software and appliances provides enterprise-
IoT devices—as well as other computing devices like grade capabilities and consumer- oriented
tablets, laptops and smartphones—all connect to simplicity, bringing a new generation of
the Internet via the Wi-Fi router. Unfortunately, Wi-Fi smart security to homes and small-to-mid-
routers weren’t designed primarily with security sized businesses. Untangle’s award-winning
in mind. In fact, security usually comes in a distant network security solutions are trusted by over
second or third to performance and range. Wi-Fi router 400,000 customers, protecting nearly 5 million
manufacturers spend their R&D dollars on improving people, their computers and networks around
hardware rather than software, leaving consumers the world.
with a choice between bad and awful when it comes For sales information, please contact us by
to security and network visibility. phone in the US at +1 (866) 233-2296 or via
e-mail at [email protected].
Fortunately, Untangle can help.

©2019 Untangle, Inc. All rights reserved. Untangle and the Untangle logo are
Bringing state-of-the-art network registered marks or trademarks of Untangle, Inc. All other company or product
names are the property of their respective owners.
device discovery, Internet traffic

visibility and security to the
SMB market for years, Untangle SOURCES
has now introduced its same 1 https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2018-11-07-
gartner-identifies-top-10-strategic-iot-technologies-and-trends
award-winning NG Firewall 2 https://cio.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/internet-of-
things/households-have-10-connected-devices-now-will-rise-to-50-
solution to the small office/home by-2020/53765773
office (SOHO) market with its 3 https://s3-eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/evermade-fsecure-assets/wp-
content/uploads/2019/04/01094545/IoT-Threat-Landscape.pdf
appliances, firmware option and 4 http://www.verizonenterprise.com/resources/reports/rp_data-breach-
digest-2017-sneak-peek_xg_en.pdf
HomePro license. 5 http://www.zdnet.com/article/5-nightmarish-attacks-that-show-the-
risks-of-iot-security/
6 https://www.tomsguide.com/us/home-router-security,news-19245.html
7 http://www.information-age.com/internet-things-security-
crisis-123470475/

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WHITEPAPER

Further compounding this issue is that many home

Fortunately, Untangle can help.

device discovery, Internet traffic

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