Overview
- Consumers' Forum, which issued its public alert on Saturday, November 14, 2026, said about one in three Italian households is potentially vulnerable to attackers who gain access to connected home devices.
- The group estimates more than 100 million connected devices are in Italian homes, including roughly 50.3 million smartphones, 22.2 million smart TVs, 20.2 million computers and 7.4 million tablets.
- Common technical flaws named by Consumers' Forum are unprotected routers, default or weak passwords and unpatched device software, which can let criminals steal data, mount ransomware or take remote control of locks and appliances.
- Consumers' Forum calculates typical incident recovery costs at about €1,500 for network fixes, technical help and device replacement, while worst-case harms such as fraud, extortion or identity theft can reach about €10,000 per family.
- The group will convene sector authorities on November 18 to press for coordinated action and it notes the EU's Cyber Resilience Act will place new security duties on manufacturers from December 2027, shifting some responsibility away from consumers.