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Security


Getty Images

Image shows a smart speaker near a Christmas tree.

IoT Device Security: 7 Tips for Securing Smart Home Gifts

Each holiday season, there’s a huge surge in the purchase of smart home devices. Here are seven IoT device security guidelines to minimize your cyber risk.
  • Written by Debby Briggs
  • 13th December 2019

We’re in the midst of the holiday season, and each year, our holiday wish lists include more technical gadgets that make our lives more enjoyable or secure if done right.

These devices can also make our lives more convenient. We can use smart doorbells to see who’s visiting, intelligent security systems to protect our homes and connected baby monitors to check the nursery while on the go. Smart speaker applications can even tell other devices what to do, reminding your TV to record a show or your heating system to increase the temperature.

There will be more than 26 billion Internet of Things devices by 2020, including the one on your child’s wish list. But there’s a darker side to this technology because all these gadgets can be hacked and used for nefarious purposes.

Many IoT devices have built-in microphones, cameras or location trackers that broadcast information without you even knowing it. As consumers, we need to do our research to understand how to protect ourselves, so we can enjoy the value these devices provide.

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It’s important to read company privacy policies and know what these devices are learning about you and your family. Service providers are getting more transparent and allowing consumers to opt out of data sharing. We should all be aware of the protections they offer in this regard. By understanding the technologies they offer, we’ll know which provider works best for our needs.

Before putting IoT devices under the tree, we also need to protect our home networks from hackers. Here are several IoT device security hints that will allow users to keep their data safe and maintain their privacy.

  1. Know What You Have: You can’t keep gadgets safe when you’re not aware of them, so know the number of IoT devices that are on your home network. The average home has eight networked devices per person, and that number will continue to grow. Your kids count here. Know the devices they have on the network. Most gaming systems have microphones and cameras.
  2. Use Strong Passwords: This rule goes for your phones, tablets and other devices. Each one should be different and changed regularly. I like to think of vanity plates I see while driving to make up my passwords. Make sure never to use the default password that came with the product. These are well-known, and this is the first thing a hacker will try. 
  3. Make Sure Your Children Are Cyber Aware: Your kids probably know more about using technology than you think. It is time to have ‘the talk’ about passwords. 
  4. Make Sure to Update Your IoT Devices: IoT devices are not “set it and forget it” gadgets. Since they are on the internet, they need to be updated frequently. Enable automatic updates and multi-factor authentication. 
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Tags: Smart homes security Retail Security Other Content Features

Related


  • IoT Device Security: 7 Tips for Securing Smart Home Gifts
    IoT communication: Four ways your products talk to you
    Your products are telling you how consumer IoT can achieve mainstream adoption. Are you listening to them?
  • Smart Speakers, Automation and the Future of Smart Buildings
    Voice interfaces and advances in smart buildings promise to transform how we perform a range of common tasks — and perhaps our own sense of trust.
  • Smart home
    IoT Analytics: When Is a Truly Smart Home Arriving?
    While the smart home market is still in its infancy, speech recognition has emerged as a vital if still-rudimentary technology. 
  • Image shows welding robotics and a digital manufacturing operation.
    IoT Supply Chain Vulnerability Poses Threat to IIoT Security
    The supply chain provides building blocks for IoT but also vulnerabilities. IT pros need to ward against malicious attacks that exploit supply chain security gaps.

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