As the internet of things brings an increasing array of home devices online, the potential for residential cyber threats is growing. To mitigate those risks, the cable industry is developing a new technology designed to wall off various IoT devices on a home network.

Micronets, unveiled Nov. 14 by CableLabs — a nonprofit research and development lab funded by cable operators such as Comcast Corp., Charter Communications Inc. and Liberty Global PLC — aim to isolate infected IoT devices by segmenting a home network into a series of distinct mini networks. One micronet, for instance, might connect a home's kitchen appliances; while a second connects its security system and cameras; a third connects children's devices; and a fourth is reserved for medical devices that connect to the cloud services of a healthcare provider.

The advantage of this segmented architecture, according to a Nov. 14 blog post from CableLabs Lead Software Architect Darshak Thakore, is that it can quarantine compromised devices within a particular micronet, minimizing the risk to other devices on the network. It also insulates high-value devices on the network, such as medical devices or smart door locks, to further reduce the risk of them being compromised. While the technology remains in development, CableLabs said it is working with vendors, operators and others to develop the necessary frameworks and specifications for deployment to the consumer market.

"IoT has the potential to dramatically transform our lives … [but] we've also seen the risks of IoT security, especially in the consumer space," Michael Glenn, vice president of security technologies for CableLabs, said in an interview.

He pointed to home cameras that use default passwords and devices that can open doors, noting that bad security on smart devices can "impact your personal safety in your home."

Kagan analyst Jeff Heynen called the ability of micronets to isolate certain devices or types of devices on the network "a good step forward."

"If you think about, as we add more connected devices to our home environment, those are all potential entry points for hackers," Heynen said in an interview. "That's a scary proposition." Kagan is a research group within S&P Global Market Intelligence.

There are certain limitations to micronets. They will not, for instance, strengthen the security of any particular device. But Glenn said they are an important piece of the larger IoT security puzzle.

"What we're trying to do is create a dynamic micronetwork segmentation on the home and small business networks similar to what best practices are for an enterprise network but without the IT administrator who has to manage that," Glenn said. Many home networks today are as complicated as small enterprise networks, with potentially dozens of connected devices, he noted.

"We had our iPhones or iPads. And then we connected our DVD players to the internet. And then we started connecting appliances, and now we're connecting our thermostats and our doorbells and all of these different devices," Glenn said.

In tandem with micronets, another piece of the IoT security puzzle that will make the security technology more effective is for broadband providers to work with vendors on device protocols that inform the network how a device should be operating and its typical traffic patterns.

"That way, the network can understand what applications it should allow and which ones it should block in order to minimize the damage if a particular device gets infected or has problems," Glenn said.

If a refrigerator is sending 1,000 emails an hour or sending malicious traffic as part of a distributed denial of service attack, for instance, this would enable the network to put the refrigerator into a quarantined micronet and then notify the home owner of the infection.

"It might limit the functionality of that one device, the refrigerator, but the rest of the home is unaffected by it," Glenn said.

While much work remains to be done to move micronets into consumer homes, CableLabs President and CEO Phil McKinney recently said called out security, and micronets in particular, as a "big idea" that will be getting a lot of attention in the coming years.

Speaking at the SCTE-ISBE Cable-Tec Expo 2018 in October, McKinney noted CableLabs had developed the software for micronets but that there is still "some work that's going to be taking a couple of years yet."

CableLabs plans to release the micronets reference code, currently under development, to the open source community in the coming months.