SINGAPORE - StarHub has started scheduling visits to the homes of customers whose Web-connected devices were used to launch two waves of cyber attacks against its network.

The attacks last Saturday (Oct 22) and on Monday (Oct 24) brought down Internet surfing for some broadband customers for about two hours each time.

In a statement on Friday (Oct 28), StarHub said that its technical service staff will assess the "smart" devices installed and help customers secure them. This include installing anti-malware software, changing default passwords, updating device software, reconfiguring devices or even replacing them.

On the two occasions, its subscribers' bug-infected devices turned into zombie machines that repeatedly sent queries to StarHub's systems and overwhelmed them in what is known as a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack.