Free New Scanner Aims to Protect Home Networks

Home networks, filled to the brim with IoT and mobile devices, are notorious for their vulnerabilities. A new free app from Avira is designed to let homeowners know where those vulnerabilities are and offer suggestions on how to fix them.

Avira Home Guard, available for Windows desktop and Android mobile devices, scans the home network to list all devices attached — a list that may include devices homeowners aren't even aware are on their networks. The app will then scan the list for open ports and known vulnerabilities, with suggestions for remediation offered to the network owner.

According to the company, more than 845,000 smart devices were scanned during the product's open beta period. More than 137,000 of those were routers, and, of those, more than one-quarter had open ports.

Home networks are growing, with the global average now six devices per network, Avira states. While traditional devices, like computers and smartphones, are still the most common endpoints on the networks, IoT devices make up the fastest-growing category.

Read more here.

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