Attribute-based memory updates (AbU in short) is an interaction mechanism recently introduced for adapting the Event-Condition-Action (ECA) programming paradigm to distributed systems, particularly suited for the IoT. It can be seen as a memory-based counterpart of attribute-based communication, keeping the simplicity of ECA rules. In this paper, we introduce behavioral equivalences for AbU, with the aim of formally defining security and safety requirements for AbU systems. As a consequence, the proposed requirements can help in assuring the security and safety of IoT devices, which are more and more pervasive in our daily life. Finally, we propose (syntactic) sufficient conditions to statically verify the introduced requirements.