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These 'Smart' Home Devices Could Be the Biggest Security Threat to Your Entire Company


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Controls for smart home devices.

Experts warn 'smart' home devices could pose a major security risk to home and business networks.

Credit: Pixabay

Experts warn that smart Internet of Things (IoT) devices could threaten entire businesses, with a Palo Alto Networks survey finding more devices connecting to business networks over the last year.

Almost half of respondents (41%) admitted their need to make significant IoT security improvements, with 17% citing a total revamp as necessary.

Almost 25% of those at larger organizations said they have not segmented IoT devices onto separate networks, and just 21% allegedly follow best security practices of microsegmentation.

Palo Alto Networks' Greg Day said most IoT devices employ proprietary mechanisms that are increasingly encrypted, which thwarts the determination of device activities—and changes to them—as benign or malign.

Said Day, "[Information technology] and security teams need to embrace visibility of IoTs and then segment both their critical digital business assets and align IoT things only to the business processes required."

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