Smart home technology has fundamentally changed how we live our lives. With the tap of a button, we can remotely lock the front door. With a simple voice command, we can control lighting. We can monitor our homes using video cameras with built-in audio features that let us talk to our pets even when we are not home. It is all pretty amazing. But every home automation device in this system represents a potential security breach.
The security risks are more digital than physical, yet they are nonetheless real. But there is no need to panic. There is certainly no need to avoid all the benefits of home automation based solely on security risks. There are ways to make a home automation system more secure. You are about to learn some of the most effective.
No Computer Science Degree Required
The first thing to know is that it is possible to secure individual home automation devices even with very limited tech skills. You don’t need a computer science degree to do it. But you do need a willingness to reach beyond factory settings to configure your devices. You also need a willingness to learn.
Factory settings are implemented as a starting point to demonstrate that a device works properly. The problem with these settings is that they are easily discoverable online. So if you never change them, all a hacker needs to know in order to break into your network is the make and model of each of your devices. That’s why it is so critically important to change the factory defaults.
3 Practical Ways to Secure Your System
There are more than a dozen things you can do to secure a home automation system. Some are more effective than others. Vivint, a nationwide leader in home automation and electronic home security, recommends the following three practical steps:
1. Change Default Passwords and Enable MFA
The first and easiest thing to do is change the default passwords on your devices, including your router. Passwords should be unique and combine at least twelve letters, numbers, and symbols. Do not pick something that’s easy to remember, because it will be just as easy for a hacker to figure out. Also consider using a password manager on your phone or computer to keep track of all of them.
In addition, enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) if your router and/or devices support it. MFA will make it harder for hackers to break in. The protocol requires a second form of identification, above and beyond a password, to log in.
2. Segment Your Network
Segmenting your network is a means of breaking it up into isolated spaces dedicated to different uses. Most modern routers support at least one primary and one guest network. My router supports two of each type. That gives me four spaces to dedicate to different devices.
My home automation system is completely isolated on its own network, which remains hidden to outsiders. So even if someone managed to breach my primary network, there would be no access to the home automation system.
3. Keep Firmware Up to Date
Finally, firmware is the embedded software that makes your home automation devices function. Keep it up to date. Check with manufacturers regularly in order to stay abreast of when updates are available. If any of your devices support it, enable automatic updates in the settings.
These three practical steps don’t seem like much, but they do help by making it more difficult for hackers to access your devices. Just as with physical home security, making life hard on hackers will encourage them to go elsewhere.