F-Secure makes it three in a row by joining telecom industry organizations to foster better Connected Home security standards and best practice sharing.
Broadband-Forum.Org, the prpl Foundation and ETIS have recently accepted F-Secure into their folds. All three not-for-profit organizations are dedicated to improving the services levels and security standards the telecom industry offers to consumers everywhere. This is a goal shared by F-Secure.
“We believe that being members of these organizations will allow us to contribute our experience in cyber security defense,” comments Graham Ryan, Director, Operator Marketing at F-Secure about their hat trick. “It comes at a time when consumers face an unparalleled growth of threats from cyber criminals determined to hack into their home network.”
Broadband Forum, the communications industry’s leading standards body, focuses on speeding up broadband innovation, with particular focus on the Connected Home. The prpl Foundation is an open source, community-driven body focusing on enabling secure interoperability of connected devices for the smart society of the future. ETIS, by contrast, is a European telecom body interested in fostering mutual cooperation among members, sharing best practice, and aiding collaboration where possible.
“Membership in these three important organizations allows the opportunity for us to highlight our belief that security itself needs to be a forethought rather than an afterthought when developing standards or new services for the new connected home age,” Graham says.
All three of these new relationships were made public in the run up to the annual Broadband World Forum (BBWF), one of the world’s leading industry events for Service Providers. This year’s event was held in Amsterdam, covering subjects such as the future of fixed networks (next gen), fixed wireless access, 5G, mobile broadband, as well as connected life.
“F-Secure’s presence at this important event had the dual purpose of showcasing our world-class Connected Home Security and Identity Protection solutions, while reaffirming our commitment to helping shape broadband security standards of the future in an open and collaborative manner,” explains Graham.
The Finnish cyber security company’s solutions help prevent many of the dangers at source before they ever cause problems for the world’s consumers.
Mikko Hypponen, Chief Research Officer at F-Secure, has commented about why the home network is such an attractive target and why users are exposed. He is the man behind ‘Hypponen’s Law’, which applies to so-termed smart devices such as TVs, fridges, and washing machines. It states that “if it’s smart, it’s vulnerable”.
Adversaries may not necessarily be after your viewing habits, milk in your fridge, or dirty laundry, but they can hack anything that is programmable by gaining access to your home network. They can then use this access to launch attacks on other Internet-connected networks and spread malware (malicious software) or get access to credit card credentials to commit fraud.
F-Secure’s Connected Home Security solution combines all their experience and the latest AI-driven technologies into the Home Wi-Fi Gateway (router) in order to protect all devices in modern homes. This includes Internet of Things (IoT) and other connected items like Smart TVs and gaming consoles that are unable to run traditional security software.
Many of the new IoT devices in homes these days are notorious for having inbuilt security flaws. The first six months of 2019 saw a twelvefold increase in the number of attack events compared to the same period in 2018. IoT traffic was the main driver behind this.
“The weakest link in the network is an IoT device,” Mikko has said.
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