Bitdefender Home Scanner Checks WiFi Gadgets for Security Risks

Bitdefender’s Home Scanner, released this week, is a free, simple software solution that detects connected devices on a network and lists known vulnerabilities associated with them. It can identify the gadgets on the WiFi and alert the user when a new one becomes available, offering a check for security risks.

Home Scanner drew media attention and received an evaluation from Tom’s Guide, which goes through all the steps, quirks and benefits a regular user would experience. The review covers everything from downloading and installing the product to scanning the home network, discovery of devices, listing the security flaws and classifying them by severity.

At its core, Home Scanner is a network mapping tool (runs Nmap) with improvements for item detection and identifying vulnerabilities. However, the Tom’s Guide assessment sets Bitdefender’s tool apart in terms of performance and the information the user receive on risks posed by connected things (full review available here).

Bitdefender Home Scanner’s purpose is to evaluate the gadgets on a network by indicating known security risks in them. Keeping them protected is a job for Bitdefender Box, the security appliance for home networks that scans the traffic and blocks connections to malicious addresses.