Three must-have features for your home network

What would be the three features that a security device protecting the smart home from hackers and all sorts of bad bugs should necessarily have to provide maximum level security? According to Bitdefender, the company that invented the smart home security hub with Bitdefender BOX, they’re the three that we detail below.

We are living in the age of the Internet of Things, which means every device or home appliance can be (and, in an ever-increasing number of cases, is) connected. Smart TVs, baby monitors, web cams, smart plugs, internet-connected lightbulbs, smart thermostats, wi-fi speakers and other such smart devices are already found in millions of homes around the world.

The problem is, many of these devices weren’t built with security in mind, so they can be hacked easily. Botnets like Mirai have been used by hackers to infect and turn such devices into zombies — in other words, cyber criminals can control them and use them to steal your private information or to attack other networks, and you won’t even know anything’s amiss.

Anomaly detection

So how do you know when something’s wrong with your smart device? Here’s where Anomaly Detection steps in. Anomaly Detection is a feature of Bitdefender BOX, the little smart home security hub which connects to your router and protects your entire Wi-Fi network.

Don’t be fooled by the fact that it sounds like the title of a bad sci-fi movie. ‘Anomaly Detection’ is an innovative feature that protects against viruses and malware attacks targeting your connected devices — especially those that don’t run an operating system and cannot be protected by your usual antivirus software.

The Anomaly Detection engine uses machine learning and cloud correlation — for those of you who prefer English, this means it observes the way your devices work and has access to a huge cloud-based library of behaviors so it can understand when a device acts weirdly.

This makes Anomaly Detection a really powerful tool. When it notices a device is doing strange things (for example, it exchanges more data than it would be normal with the outside world), it zeroes in on that, blocks the malicious activity and alerts you about it.

And the best part is, it will effectively block any malicious communications while still maintaining the devices’ functionality. So you’ll still be able to use that magic smart toaster in the morning.

Intrusion prevention

The newest Bitdefender BOX integrates detection and prevention technologies that until now were only available in Bitdefender’s powerful security solutions for corporate clients. This means that enterprise-grade security has now made its way to the smart home.

Bitdefender uses intrusion prevention systems to pick up new threats and block malicious attempts to access your network.

Deep packet inspection

Now this is something that somewhat resembles airport security, only without the annoying cues and waiting times. And nobody needs to take their belts and shoes off.

Your Bitdefender BOX will act as an inspection point searching the data attempting to enter your network for anything that might pose a problem and does not comply with your system’s security protocols. Which means viruses and other nasty critters of the underworld won’t stand a chance of getting past security.