Press Releases

Avira SafeThings Wi-Fi Router will provide comprehensive protection for smart homes against cyber threats

February 23, 2018

Posted by: Zenobia Hegde

Travis Witteveen of Avira

Avira, the developer behind the award-winning consumer internet security portfolio, announces the introduction of Avira SafeThings Wi-Fi Router, a solution to protect your smart home, at the Barcelona Mobile World Congress.

“Smart Home security will be the most critical investment a modern household can make in 2018. We provide a solution which vendors can integrate into their products or that consumers can purchase as a complete offering from us directly; combining high performance hardware and cutting-edge security features”, said Travis Witteveen, CEO of Avira.

“With this product, we will create a simple package deal which will provide users with the best-in-class AI-powered security for smart devices within the home. SafeThings enhances the home networking experience, with no installation headaches.”

Significant threats for the smart devices

During 2017, the research engine Shodan scanned over 25.9 million devices exposed to the internet in the DACH region and over 128.7 million devices in the USA. In DACH, about 4 million of these devices were found vulnerable to 60 exploits that could allow remote attackers to gain unauthorized access, while in USA over 25 million devices were vulnerable to 45 exploits.

Disruptive technology at the gateway

The Avira SafeThings is an ecosystem: a platform as a service solution installed on the router, an AI-driven behavioral threat intelligence cloud platform, together with a user interface that enables users easily know what is going on within their home network from either a smart phone or computer.

With SafeThings, Avira is introducing a disruptive technology in an exceptionally easy-to-use package to secure the smart home. This AI-driven approach outperforms the current market solutions that rely on simple, static URL filters, or overloaded, inefficient deep-packet-inspection techniques. 

SafeThings automatically discovers and profiles all the connected smart home devices via using machine learning and dynamic rules, without requiring the end user to start a complex registration process. It identifies normal behavior for each device and category, flagging anything that could indicate an anomaly; and uses the Avira Protection Cloud to crowdsource and communicate information on new and emerging threats to other routers connected to the cloud. 

The Avira SafeThings Wi-Fi Router will be available later in 2018

Avira is proposing a dual model:  SafeThings comes as a PaaS solution, as well as a router.

The SafeThings Wi-Fi Router will be launched later in 2018. It is intended for innovators and professional users that want to be one step ahead in terms of technology they use and how they protect their smart homes and digital lives. “Routers are very tangible. It is critical to us that we get Avira disruptive technology and our different take on Smart Home security out there in the marketplace in a container that people can really buy and plug in their houses,” explained Witteveen.

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“Avira is all for informed consumer choice. We believe that the ISPs can be the natural intermediary, recommending routers that will provide users with the technical performance they want, along with the security capabilities which are beneficial to both the end user and the ISP. With our router, they will have that choice.”

In addition, the SafeThings PaaS solution is a great platform for ISPs and router manufacturers to help grow their business. It can retrofit currently deployed routers, via Over-The-Air firmware update, or to flash new equipment, to provide smart home relevant protection.

Overview of features and benefits of Avira SafeThings

With security embedded, the Avira SafeThings Wi-Fi Router is the heart of connected home.

The Avira SafeThings Wi-Fi Router immediately and automatically protects all connected devices in the home networks including non-display smart devices such as smart door locks or connected light bulbs.

Contextual analysis and machine learning is used to discover devices, block vulnerabilities, protect privacy, guard against IoT-specific malware, and prevent malicious misuse of smart devices.

Identifies, with the help of AI and machine learning, unexpected device behavior and automatically act on these findings.

Calculates the risk and vulnerabilities associated with individual categories of smart devices.

Applies security policies and counter-measures in near real-time to identified threats.

Monitors all smart devices in the connected home, regardless of brand or type.

Insures that information originating in the home stays in the home.

Securely shares information on detected threats across the Avira SafeThings community.

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