Home Gateway IoT Monitoring Without Public IP Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
Home IoT devices are often insecure and vulnerable to attacks due to poor design and configuration, making home networks susceptible to cyber infiltration, as existing scanning tools cannot access these devices directly from the internet.
Innovation Solution
A home gateway system with an IoT vulnerability monitor that scans the home network, categorizes devices, performs vulnerability tests, and assigns permissions levels to identify and quarantine vulnerable devices.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If Internet scanning tools are used to identify vulnerable IoT devices, then vulnerability detection capability is improved, but accessibility is worsened because most home IoT devices do not have public IP addresses and cannot be accessed directly from the Internet
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a home gateway as an intermediary component that acts as a bridge between Internet scanning tools and internal IoT devices. The gateway receives scanning requests from external tools, forwards them to appropriate devices within the private network, and relays results back. This mediator approach allows vulnerability scanning of devices without public IP addresses while maintaining the functionality of external scanning tools.
2Reliability
If vulnerability scanning is performed on all IoT devices, then security monitoring is improved, but system complexity increases due to device categorization, permissions management, and quarantine mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments IoT devices into different categories (managed devices, unmanaged devices, guest devices) and applies different scanning and permission policies to each category. This segmentation allows the system to manage complexity by treating different device types differently, rather than applying a uniform complex process to all devices. Managed devices receive full scanning and monitoring, while guest devices may have limited scanning and restricted access.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements local quality by assigning different permission levels and security policies to different device categories and individual devices based on their specific characteristics and risk profiles. Rather than applying a single security policy universally, the system tailors security measures locally to each device's needs, category, and vulnerability status, optimizing security while reducing unnecessary complexity.
3Reliability
If vulnerable devices are quarantined to protect the network, then network security is improved, but device functionality is worsened by restricting access and isolating the device
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic permission management where device access rights are not fixed but change based on vulnerability status, device category, and security policies. Devices can transition between different permission states (full access, restricted access, quarantined) as their security posture changes. This dynamic approach allows the system to maintain device functionality when safe while automatically restricting access when vulnerabilities are detected, and potentially restoring functionality when vulnerabilities are remediated.
Data Source
AI summary
The concepts and technologies disclosed herein are directed to home gateway monitoring for vulnerable home Internet of Things (“IoT”) devices. According to one aspect disclosed herein, a home gateway can scan a home network address space of a home network for an IoT device. The home gateway can perform a vulnerability test on the IoT device to determine whether the IoT device is vulnerable to a known vulnerability. In response to determining that the IoT device is vulnerable to the known vulnerability, the home gateway can change a device status of the IoT device to a vulnerable status and can change a permissions level of the IoT device to a quarantine permissions level.