Home Gateway IoT Vulnerability Scanning With Device Quarantine

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Solution Overview

Problem

Home IoT devices are vulnerable to cyber attacks due to poor security measures, such as outdated operating systems, unprotected interfaces, and default passwords, making home networks susceptible to infiltration and malware botnets, while existing scanning tools cannot access these devices within the home network.

Innovation Solution

A home gateway system with an IoT vulnerability monitor that scans the home network, categorizes devices, performs vulnerability tests, and quarantines or alerts users about potential threats, using device categories and status to manage permissions levels.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Ease of manufacture

If IoT devices are designed with low cost, then manufacturing cost is reduced, but security measures deteriorate making devices vulnerable to attacks

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvemanufacturing costVSAvoidsecurity

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of manufactureVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent introduces a gateway device as an intermediary between the external network and IoT devices. The gateway performs security scanning, vulnerability assessment, and acts as a mediator that can isolate vulnerable devices from direct network access, thereby providing security protection without requiring the IoT devices themselves to have advanced security features

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Solution Approach 2:

The system enables self-service security monitoring where the gateway automatically scans the network, identifies vulnerable IoT devices, performs vulnerability tests, and implements quarantine measures without requiring user intervention or sophisticated security capabilities from the IoT devices themselves

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

2Difficulty of detecting and measuring

If Internet scanning tools are used to identify vulnerable devices, then vulnerability detection capability is improved, but accessibility deteriorates because home IoT devices do not have public IP addresses

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvevulnerability detection capabilityVSAvoidaccessibility

Core Design Contradiction:

Difficulty of detecting and measuringVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

Instead of attempting to scan IoT devices from the external Internet (which fails due to lack of public IP addresses), the patent inverts the scanning approach by having the gateway scan devices from within the home network using local IP addresses, thereby making vulnerability detection accessible despite the networking architecture

Inventive Principle:

Principle #13The other way round (Inversion)

Solution Approach 2:

The gateway serves as an intermediary that bridges the gap between external security monitoring needs and internal network accessibility. It performs vulnerability assessments from within the network where devices are accessible via local IPs, effectively translating external security requirements into internal network operations

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

3Reliability

If vulnerability tests are performed on all IoT devices, then security monitoring is improved, but system complexity increases due to device categorization and permission management

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvesecurity monitoringVSAvoidsystem complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments IoT devices into different categories (managed devices, unmanaged devices, guest devices) based on their security requirements and trust levels. This segmentation allows the system to apply different scanning frequencies and permission levels to different device groups, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining effective security monitoring

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The system applies different quality levels of security monitoring to different device segments. Managed devices receive full security scanning and monitoring, unmanaged devices receive limited monitoring with lower permissions, and guest devices receive minimal monitoring. This local differentiation of security quality reduces system complexity by avoiding uniform high-level monitoring of all devices

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

Data Source

PatentUS20250392614A1Home Gateway Monitoring for Vulnerable Home Internet of Things Devices

Publication Date: 2025.12.25 AT&T INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY I L P

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.