Avast to Present 5G Smart Home Security Solution to Reduce Attack Surfaces at Hotedge '20

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., June 23, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Armin Wasicek, Senior Data Scientist at Avast (LSE:AVST), a global leader in digital security and privacy products, will present research he conducted with Amr Osman, Stefan Köpsell, researchers from Germany's Technical University of Dresden, and Thorsten Stufe, researcher at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology at USENIX HotEdge '20. The conference will take place virtually this year from June 25-26, 2020. The researchers will present how transparent microsegmentation makes homes more secure by reducing attack surfaces in 5G-enabled smart home networks.

"IDC predicts that there will be around 41.6 billion connected IoT devices in 2025, and in a 5G world many of them will connect directly to the network which brings new cyber security challenges and opportunities alike. Smart home devices typically are connected constantly, often have vulnerable, out-of-date firmware, and collect sensitive data which they send to the cloud. The segmentation of 5G networks offers opportunities for carriers to create new types of protection mechanisms from Avast for their subscribers. At Hotedge '20, my fellow researchers from TU Dresden, KIT, and I will explain how IoT devices can be isolated in microsegments, using network-level security policies, to keep people's homes safe," said Armin Wasicek, Senior Data Scientist, Avast.

Once an attacker successfully gains access to a single device, the entire network, including other IoT devices connected to the same network are at risk. However, in their talk, the experts will present how they implemented a virtual network function to enforce fine-grained network security policies in smart homes. The research shows that microsegmentation reduces the attack surface exposed to a Mirai-infected IoT webcam by up to 65.85% at the cost of preventing 2.16% of the otherwise-valid network flows between devices, providing carriers with a unique opportunity to protect their 5G customers' homes.

Armin Wasicek from Avast, Amr Osman, Stefan Köpsell, and Thorsten Stufe will present their research on June 25, 2020 at 8:10-9:40 AM PDT at the Hotedge '20 event, virtually.

About Avast:
Avast (LSE:AVST) is a global leader in digital security and privacy products. With over 400 million users online, Avast offers products under the Avast and AVG brands that protect people from threats on the internet and the evolving IoT threat landscape. The company's threat detection network is among the most advanced in the world, using machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies to detect and stop threats in real time. Avast digital security products for Mobile, PC or Mac are top-ranked and certified by VB100, AV-Comparatives, AV-Test, SE Labs and others. Visit: www.avast.com.

About Technische Universität Dresden
Technische Universität Dresden (TUD) is one of the top universities in Germany and Europe. Strong in research and considered excellent with respect to the range and the quality of degree programmes it offers, it is also closely interconnected with culture, business and society. As a modern university with a broad array of disciplines and with its five Schools it has a diverse scientific spectrum that only few other German universities are able to match. TUD is Saxony's largest university with approximately 32,000 students and 8,300 employees – among them 600 professors.

Since 2012, TU Dresden has been one of eleven Universities of Excellence in Germany. It was able to successfully defend this title on 19th July 2019.

Karlsruhe Institute of Technologie (KIT)
Being "The Research University in the Helmholtz Association", KIT creates and imparts knowledge for the society and the environment. It is the objective to make significant contributions to the global challenges in the fields of energy, mobility, and information. For this, about 9,300 employees cooperate in a broad range of disciplines in natural sciences, engineering sciences, economics, and the humanities and social sciences. KIT prepares its 24,400 students for responsible tasks in society, industry, and science by offering research-based study programs. Innovation efforts at KIT build a bridge between important scientific findings and their application for the benefit of society, economic prosperity, and the preservation of our natural basis of life. KIT is one of the German universities of excellence.

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SOURCE Avast

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