Unlimited Access: Every Device on Your Network Can Talk to the Internet

Unlimited Access: Every Device on Your Network Can Talk to the Internet

Back in 2018, I wrote a post called Home Network Segmentation: A Must in the IoT Era. It walked through how to isolate your smart devices, like TVs, thermostats, and cameras, from your laptops and phones. The goal? Keep the questionable stuff away from the critical stuff.

Nearly seven years later, the need for segmentation hasn’t gone away. If anything, it’s become more urgent.

Because here’s the truth:

Every device on your home network can probably talk to the entire Internet.

And most of us have no idea if these devices are talking to the correct servers, or to threat actors, or if those devices need to talk to anything on the Internet at all!

Everything is connected.

When you connect a new smart device, like a lightbulb or a smart plug, it typically:

• Gets full access to the Internet.

• Has permission to connect to anything.

• Can often talk to every other device on your network, too.

That’s the default. And unless you step in and change it, it stays that way.

This isn’t just an IoT problem. It’s a visibility problem. And a trust problem. We trust these devices to do what they need to in the background, and nothing more.

Spoiler alert: that’s not always the case.

Why Flat Networks Are Still a Problem

In a flat network:

• There is no segmentation.

• No boundaries.

• No meaningful control.

A flat home network is like having a house where every room shares the same key, for both the front door and every interior door.

Once a visitor (or an intruder) gets hold of that single key, they immediately have access to everything: your bedroom, your home office, even the safe in the back room.

In this house, once someone gets through your front door (like a hacker breaching your router), they can move freely between all your connected devices. Your smart TV can talk to your work laptop. Your gaming console can reach your security cameras. And that cheap smart light bulb with outdated firmware? It can communicate with the computer that stores your tax returns.

Just like you wouldn’t give the delivery person access to your bedroom, you shouldn’t give unrestricted access to every device on your network.

And attackers know this.

Many botnets and malware campaigns rely on phishing attacks to infect a system inside of your network, or they scan open ports and compromise devices, then move laterally through your network. If your smart plug gets compromised, your laptop might be next.

But What About My Firewall?

A lot of people assume their firewall is blocking threats from the Internet.

And that’s technically true, if the threat starts from the outside.

But here’s what most folks don’t realize:

Once a device inside your network makes a connection out to the Internet, the firewall allows that conversation to continue in both directions.

This is called stateful inspection, and it’s how most home firewalls, and even many business firewalls, work. The idea is simple:

“If a device inside the network started the conversation with a system on the Internet, it must be safe to continue.”

Sounds reasonable… until your smart device reaches out to a malicious server.

Or your fridge downloads a sketchy firmware update.

Or you click on the wrong link and infect your laptop with malware that connects to a malicious IP address.

Because your network allowed the outbound connection, it now trusts the inbound replies.

And that’s where risk lives.

Most home routers don’t log or flag this behavior. They just keep the door open.

But Here’s the Bigger Problem

Let’s say you do segment your network (and if you haven’t, please read that earlier post and make it happen).

The next question becomes:

Do you know what your devices are actually doing?

Do you know:

• What domains your thermostat is connecting to?

• If your smart TV just reached out to an unknown IP in another country?

• Whether that firmware update really came from the vendor?

We can’t defend what we can’t see.

And right now, most of us are blind.

We Need More Than Isolation…We Need Insight

Network segmentation is an excellent first step. It limits exposure and buys you time. But it doesn’t give you visibility.

You still need to know:

• What’s on your network

• What it’s doing

• What’s normal, and what’s not

Because segmentation without insight is like putting your devices in separate rooms… and never checking what’s going on inside them.

Coming Soon…

This is a problem I’ve been thinking about a lot lately.

Not just at home, but across supply chains, small businesses, and global enterprises.

We need a better way to understand device behavior, especially in a world where every smart toaster has a direct line to the entire Internet.

More on that soon.