Avast, the company behind the leading antivirus software, warned Thursday against attacks on home appliances connected to the internet, calling hackers targeting home routers a major threat to consumers. "It's a trivial thing to do and there's nothing the user can do to fix it, other than to throw the router away and put in a new router," Avast chief executive Vincent Steckler told reporters.

Avast chief technology officer Ondrej Vlcek said that more and more people were using internet-enabled appliances which he described as "a total nightmare when it comes to security". Vulnerable appliances include TV sets, audio systems, coffee machines and toys, according to the Prague-based company, which every month registers 444 million users and prevents 3.5 billion malware attacks and 500 million visits to harmful websites.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2017