Securing Internet of Things devices in home networks

Modern households are deploying Internet of Things (IoT) devices at a fast pace. The heterogeneity of these devices, which range from low-end sensors to smart TVs, make securing home IoT particularly challenging. To make matters worse, many consumerIoT devices are hard or impossible to secure because device manufacturers fail to adopt security best practices (e.g., regular software patches). Vulnerable IoT devices make home networks open to attacks or privacy leaks and make the Internet subject to large-scale Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks such as the Dyn Attack by the Mirai botnet. Securing home networks is particularly challenging. IoT devices are more diverse than those in a managed, conventional network, in terms of both the devices themselves, their introduction to the home network, and the software they run. In an enterprise network, for instance, network administrators often enforce device and software homogeneity to ease management and maintenance. Home users may connect a broad array of devices, applications, and services. In conventional networks, expert administrators are responsible for managing the network. For example, they take steps to secure end hosts such as applying security patches. In contrast, most home networks do not have a technically skilled network administrator.