Cybersecurity Guidance for Smart Homes: A Cross-National Review of Government Sources

2026-03-23

AI Summary

This study addresses the notable lack of structured post-incident response support for non-expert users in smart homes following cyberattacks. Adopting a user-centered perspective, the authors conduct a systematic cross-national comparison of cybersecurity guidance issued by governments across 11 countries, employing standardized literature retrieval and qualitative content analysis. The research introduces a novel categorization of governmental smart home security advice into three types: incident reporting, general recommendations, and incident response. Findings reveal that while most countries offer preventive guidance and reporting channels, only two provide step-by-step recovery instructions tailored to lay users, underscoring a significant gap in post-incident recovery support. This work fills a critical void in the systematic understanding of governmental guidelines concerning post-incident response in smart home cybersecurity.

Technology Category

• Application Domains: Internet of Things, Sensor Networks & Smart Cities
• Humans and AI: Intelligent User Interfaces
• Intelligent Robots: Human-Robot Interaction

Application Category

• Responsible Web: Mitigating online harms, including harassment, spam, and fake reviews
• Security and Privacy: Large-scale security measurements
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Attacks and countermeasures in recommendation systems

Abstract

Smart homes are increasingly targeted by cyberattacks, yet residents often lack guidance when incidents occur. Since affected residents are likely to seek help from trustworthy sources, this paper asks: What actionable cybersecurity guidance do governments provide to smart home users whose systems have been compromised? To answer this question, we conduct an exploratory, user-centered review of governmental cybersecurity guidance for smart homes across eleven countries to identify and characterize the types of guidance governments provide and to systematize their content. Using a standardized search and screening process, we derive three emergent clusters: incident reporting, general security recommendations, and incident response. Our findings show that governments provide abundant general security advice and accessible reporting channels, but structured incident response guidance tailored to smart homes is rare. Only two sources offer step-by-step recovery guidance for non-expert users, highlighting a gap between preventive advice and post-incident support.

Problem

• smart homes
• cybersecurity guidance
• incident response
• government sources
• cyberattacks

Innovation

• smart home cybersecurity
• government guidance
• incident response
• cross-national review
• user-centered analysis