How smart is your home? These days, everything from lights and plugs to thermostats and house alarms comes with smart features that make your home more energy efficient, secure and give you greater control regardless of where you are in the world.
But in striving to make our home work better, are we inadvertently putting our security at risk? You might not think that your wifi connected light bulbs can do much damage, but recent events indicate otherwise.
The topic hit the headlines when it emerged that compromised smart TVs and streaming TV boxes – aka the dodgy box – were corralled into a giant zombie network of devices that achieved record-breaking cyberattacks.
The people who had their devices “recruited” for the botnet may never have suspected their involvement. But the potential damage is no less severe.
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Even if that doesn’t concern you, the other risks might. Smart home devices can be a way for hackers to get inside your home network and quietly gather data that can be used for a more targeted phishing attack in the future. Imagine what your internet traffic could reveal about you, from the activity recorded by your smart home to your email and online searches.
So how can you ensure that you have taken all reasonable steps to make your home as safe as possible?
Secure your home network
First things first: shore up your home wifi security. Your broadband connection is the backbone of your smart home set up. Not only will it help your devices connect to each other, but it will also give you remote access to the whole shebang. Making sure that it is as secure as possible will cut off some of the entry points to your home and reduce the likelihood that attackers can nose around your private data.
That means changing the default details on your home hub, changing the network name and password to make it more difficult for hackers to hit on the password, and changing the admin details to something more secure.
Ringfence your smart home
Once you have your wifi secured, the next step is to build a wall between your smart home and your regular devices. Whether you are connecting directly to your wifi hub or you have put in a mesh network to improve your wifi network’s reach, you should be able to create a guest network that your smart home devices can use. That keeps them away from your smartphones, laptops and tablets, so if one of your connected home devices lets hackers into your home network, it will limit exposure to your main smartphone or laptop.
It is also worth thinking about how you log in to your smart home devices. Some devices use your Google or Apple account as a secure login, but others will require an email address.
For an extra layer of security, experts recommend that you use a separate email address for your smart home devices, keeping the devices clear of your work or personal email accounts. That means that if the worst happens and hackers manage to compromise your smart home accounts, they won’t be able to poke around in your private emails and gather data to use against you.
It also makes it easier to share login details with other members of the household if needed, without having to give over access to your private email.
Ditch the defaults
Connected devices will often come with default security settings and passwords that can be easily broken by hackers. If you want to keep your smart home secure, you need to ditch the default passwords and swap them for strong, unique passwords. And if your smart home services offer two-factor or multi-factor authentication on accounts, enable it to keep prying eyes out of your smart cameras or hubs.
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The best way to create those strong passwords is to use a password manager, such as NordPass, Bitwarden or 1Password. That ensures that not only do you have unique passwords for each account, but you can also keep track of them.
Go for reputable brands
There are plenty of smart home devices on the market, but not all of them are equal. It is not just about the features they offer but also the level of security provided. That bargain light bulb with a brand you don’t recognise could be the best thing you have bought for your home, or it could be a security nightmare that opens a back door to your personal information. Do your research on brands before integrating them into your smart home set up.
Stay up to date with software
Even the most secure devices and well-known brands need updates. New attacks are developed. Software holes are discovered and need to be patched. If you want to make sure that your devices stay secure, keeping up to date with software for all your devices, and not just your smartphone, should be a top priority.
Connected devices allow you to set automatic updates, but if you prefer to do it yourself, remember to check in regularly and update devices as quickly as possible. Patching potential security vulnerabilities should be a priority, and the most effective way to do it is to install firmware updates as quickly as possible.
Stick to what you need
If you like the idea of your home running almost independently of you, it is tempting to add a layer of smart technology to everything. But the truth is that the more you digitally enable your home, the more opportunity there is for it to be breached.
Do you need a wifi-enabled air fryer? Will your life really be improved by a coffee machine that you can control from your smartphone? If the answer is no, then skip the smart technology.
The same is true when it comes to extra features in smart home devices. For example, if you plan on only controlling a device locally, and don’t need remote access to a device, disabling it will cut off a potential way into your home.
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Be careful about what permissions you are giving devices too. Just because something asks for permission to access location or your microphone, it doesn’t mean you have to give it. A few years ago, an investigation by consumer group Which found some of smart home devices such as washing machines, air fryers and smart TVs were gathering a surprising amount of data, often unnecessarily. That could leave homeowners open to invasion of their privacy, with a large trove of data there for whoever can dip in.
Ask yourself if the permissions are necessary for the product to work; if the answer is no, don’t give them.
