Amazon Web Services Inc. is upping its game in “internet of things” security with Thursday’s launch into general availability of a new fully managed service that audits IoT devices for suspicious activity.

The AWS IoT Device Defender service works by auditing and monitoring fleets of connected devices to make sure they always remain in compliance with required security policies. Should it detect any abnormal behavior or find that those security polices aren’t being met, it will send out a quick alert to administrators who can then troubleshoot the problem.

AWS announced Device Defender at last year’s re:Invent conference alongside a host of other IoT products and services. Those announcements included FreeRTOS, which is an operating system for IoT devices that run on microcontroller units, and signaled a renewed push by Amazon into the realm of connected devices.

Device Defender is meant to address the ongoing security concerns around all things IoT. Security is a big worry for enterprises, with a report from Gartner Inc. in March estimating that companies worldwide will spend $1.5 billion on related products in 2018, up from $1.2 billion in 2017. Gartner said at the time that around 20 percent of enterprises have seen at least one attack on their IoT systems in the last three years.

AWS offered this graphic which shows how Device Defender slots into its IoT ecosystem:

In a blog post, AWS Chief Evangelist Jeff Barr said the Device Defender service can be accessed via the AWS Management Console, with pricing based on a per-device, per-month basis. Additionally customers can opt for pricing based on monitored data points on a per-data point basis, Barr said.

The service is initially being made available in AWS’s US East (N. Virginia), US West (Oregon), US East (Ohio), EU (Ireland), EU (Frankfurt), EU (London), Asia Pacific (Tokyo), Asia Pacific (Singapore), Asia Pacific (Sydney) and Asia Pacific (Seoul) Regions.

Image: AWS