Connected home devices face a surge in cyberattacks
The average household now contains 22 connected home devices and is subjected to nearly 29 attacks each day, almost triple the rate recorded last year.
This the key finding of a new joint report from Bitdefender and NETGEAR which highlights how the expanding Internet of Things ecosystem, spanning everything from smart TVs and streaming boxes to routers and cameras, has dramatically increased consumer exposure to automated cyberattacks and large-scale exploitation.
“The explosion of connected devices has transformed homes into complex digital ecosystems, but it’s also made every lightbulb, camera, and router a potential target,” says Ciprian Istrate, senior vice president of operations at Bitdefender Consumer Solutions Group. “Our research with NETGEAR shows that IoT security can no longer be treated as optional. Protection has to start at the network level, inside routers, gateways, and even at the ISP edge to stay ahead of increasingly automated and industrial-scale attacks.”
The report is based on telemetry from more than 6.1 million smart homes across North America, Europe, and Australia. It finds entertainment devices are among the most vulnerable with streaming devices (25.9 percent), smart TVs (21.3 percent), and IP cameras (8.6 percent) the most frequently targeted, collectively representing over half of all detected IoT vulnerabilities. These everyday devices are often left unpatched or rarely updated, making them easy entry points for attackers.
Mobile phones are also important as they account for 19.6 percent of connected endpoints, followed by smart TVs (9.5 percent) and streaming devices (7.3 percent). This finding shows how smartphones have become the central hub within the connected home.
Nearly all (99.4 percent) IoT exploits target already known and fixed Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs), underlining that timely patching and proactive device management remain among the most effective defenses against compromise.
“Connectivity is no longer just about speed and coverage, but also about trust,” says Jonathan Oakes, senior vice president and general manager of home Networking at NETGEAR. “The router sits at the heart of every digital home, offering protection at the point where it matters most -- the network itself. Security can’t be an afterthought; it must be built in from the start.”
You can get the full report from the Bitdefender site.
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