Let's Talk: IOT devices and why you put them on a guest network.

[+Warwagon MVC]

Let’s talk about IoT devices. IoT stands for “Internet of Things”.

IoT devices are typically described as dumb devices connected to your network allowing you to control things with your smartphone, Google Home or Alexa. Below are some examples of such device:

Smart plug outlet (“Ok Google, turn on the light”)

• Smart lightbulb
• Smart coffee Pot
• Smart door alert

Many others

For these devices to work, they must be connected to Wi-Fi so they can access the internet. Upon connecting to the internet, they connect to a server located in various parts of the world. China is a common endpoint.

Because IoT devices are dumb devices, the software inside of them almost never gets updated.

Over time, the devices become less secure because problems are found in the software inside the devices. The device almost never gets updated fix the issue.

Now you would have a vulnerable device in your house on your Wi-Fi network. If the computer in the cloud that the IoT device is communicating to gets compromised, your IoT devices could also get compromised as a result.

This can potentially allow attackers to gain access to your home network and to the rest of the devices on it (smartphones, tablets, and computers).

A couple years ago there was a story, about a company that got over 1TB of data stolen because someone connected the "Smart fish tank" to their internal wifi network. This gave the attackers a way in.

Are IoT devices useful? Absolutely! I love them! I have a bunch of them in my house!

What can be done to secure these insecure devices?

For a while now, most consumer routers have the option of creating a “guest network”. Just as the name suggests, guest networks are networks guests can use when they come over to your house.

The beauty of a guest network is that it’s segregated.

This means that while connected to it, guests only have internet access. They are isolated and cannot see or connect to any other devices on the guest network or your primary Wi-Fi network.

It’s recommended when setting up a new IoT device, that you add it to your guest network. This will isolate you from threats that could be introduced by an IoT device(s).