Method and system for securing and protecting smart devices within the internet of things ecosystem

A method for operating a gateway device, comprising:

• connecting and communicating, by a network controller executed by a processor of the gateway device, with each of a plurality of smart devices and with a network access point connected to a network interface of the gateway device,
• enforcing, by a firewall engine executed by the processor, internal firewall rules stored in a local database of a memory device of the gateway device, for filtering internal communication between the plurality of connected smart devices on an internal network,
• enforcing, by the firewall engine executed by the processor, external firewall rules stored in the local database of a memory device of the gateway device, for filtering external communication between the plurality of connected smart devices and an external network,
• querying, by the processor, a remote database on the external network to retrieve device profile information for each of the plurality of smart devices,
• controlling, by a management interface executed by the processor, the gateway device to:
• generate the internal firewall rules based on device profile information of each of the plurality of smart devices received from the remote database via the network access point and stored in a device profile database of the gateway device, in response to at least one request to add the plurality of smart devices to the internal network,
• update the internal firewall rules based on modified device profile information of each of the plurality of smart devices stored in the device profile database, in response to a request to edit or remove the plurality of smart devices to the internal network,
• receive a first user selection of an external firewall rule indicating whether to prohibit external network communications to and from one of the plurality of smart devices, or to allow communications to the one of the plurality of smart devices from the external network, or to allow communications from the one of the plurality of smart devices to the external network, or to allow communications to and from the one of the plurality of smart devices with the external network,
• receive a second user selection of an internal firewall rule indicating whether to allow communications to the one of the plurality of smart devices, or to allow communications from the one of the plurality of smart devices, or to allow communications to and from the one of the plurality of smart devices, and
• update the external and the internal firewall rules for the one of the plurality of smart devices based on the first user selection and the second user selection respectively,
• wherein when a manufacturer or a model number of the one of the plurality of smart devices does not exist in the remote database, the processor of the gateway device is further configured to:
• probe the one of the plurality of smart devices and receive information including at least one communication port number and at least one communication protocol from the one of the plurality of smart devices,
• display the received information to a user of the gateway device, and
• receive user input from an input/output interface of the gateway device, based on the displayed information and configure the firewall engine based on the received user input.