Price of Smart Devices More Important Than Cybersecurity

A new study by BlackBerry shows that in Germany, for 70 percent of buyers of smart home devices, price, ease of use and ease of setup take precedence over security. In addition, about one in six companies do not take any adequate security precautions to extend cybersecurity to the private sphere. 17 percent of respondents in Germany said their employer has not yet done anything to protect or communicate anything about their home network or smart devices, and that they don’t know if they are protected at all.

11 Cyberattacks per device per day

In addition, about three-quarters of respondents each said their employer had not taken steps to secure their home Internet connection or protect personal devices with software. According to the BlackBerry Threat Report 2022, companies are confronted with up to eleven cyber attacks per device per day, which makes all-round protection all the more important. In Germany, 33 percent of companies rely solely on the security of virtual private networks (VPNs), which cannot, however, keep up with today’s threat situation.

Even through seemingly innocuous devices, criminals can access home networks connected to corporate devices, taking the opportunity to steal data and intellectual property. Since buyers rank cybersecurity of smart devices far behind price, and employer protection of smart home devices is taken up by few, this opens the door for cybercriminals to take advantage of the boom in smart devices in the home.

The study

was conducted in June 2022 by Opinion Matters. It surveyed 1,000 Germans who have worked from home in the past 12 months and use a smart device at home.