As we become more reliant on connected devices to run our businesses, homes and personal lives, cybersecurity has risen to the top of many peoples’ priority lists. But the type of threats that IoT devices face is quite different from the ones found on traditional computers, and require a completely new set of tools and strategies to defend against them.

With a myriad of different IoT device types available, each with its individual operating systems software and features it’s no wonder that malware attacks targeting these kinds of devices are increasing. A lack of standard software could make antiviruses and iot it difficult to create security tools for a variety of devices.

In 2016 threat actors created one of the largest botnets of all time through a hack on IoT devices. This destabilized parts of the Internet and rendered websites such as The New York Times’s website, Brian Krebs’s website and French web host OVH inaccessible for hours. The attackers simply scanned the Internet for default usernames and passwords on IoT devices, then assembled an army of them to start the DDoS attack.

IoT and antiviruses play a crucial role in protecting against these kinds of threats. However, this type security software must increase its surveillance to include monitoring how IoT devices communicate with each other and to the external world, and maintaining secure password practices two-factor authentication, as well as up-to-date patching. Combined with other security solutions that are in place, these tools provide an effective defense against IoT threats.