Smart Home Security

The Internet of Things is undeniably taking over our lives. A 2015 Gartner study estimated a 5.5 million daily increase of IoT devices and, according to Machina, there were already 6 billion of them around the world in 2016. The same goes for the category of smart home devices: they constantly amaze us, simplifying our lives with such ease. However, caution is required to avoid a trade-off between a smart and a safe home. Since we are considering a physical space, using a certain software or device might lead to much heavier consequences that go beyond leaking information; it might come to hackers gaining access to our own home… So, what are the security risks that come with a smart home?

There are a few aspects of Smart Home technology that may constitute a security hazard for the user. A lot of this software, to be interconnected, customized and allow at-a-distance use, has permission to communicate with and control different devices of one’s home, such as lights, doors or the oven. At the same time, it connects the home to the internet. This constitutes a risk for two reasons:

First, if the app which we use to control, let’s say, a door, does not meet the high standards of security one would hope for, it can be easily be accessed by others, enabling them to lock and unlock our own house. The same goes for, for example, security cameras, which, if hacked, might allow someone else to monitor your house and (even if only outside) get to know your family’s regular schedule and, at a given moment, who is (or not) at home. Furthermore, studies have shown that a lot of the currently utilized apps have more permissions than necessary to achieve their purpose, creating more room for a potential breach.

Second, the different technologies involved in an integrated smart home must communicate with each other. Whether it is between two different apps or between some software and your oven, information is flowing. These communications may include sensible information (as, for instance, a pin code for a door) and sometimes are not that difficult to intercept. In recent experiments, it has even been proven possible in some systems for malicious software to impersonate a device, sending a signal replicating its ID. This might be a channel for intruders to access your home.

Obviously, these problems raise several significant questions on just how secure smart home technology is today. And it seems consensual that there is still a long way to go regarding safety for IoT devices. However, this does not imply that smart homes are something we want to overlook and not benefit from.

There are procedures that might help us get a more robust system, less likely to be breached (for more on that, read the following article: http://bit.ly/2hMyVTC). These cautionary steps, that you can follow yourself, sure seem to enhance security and comfort for smart homeowners. Nonetheless, they are not enough. In many cases, manufacturers of IoT devices have neglected security issues and only strengthen their technology safety-wise whenever a problem arises. Once a (potential or real) breach is discovered and made public, then there seems to be some action towards its resolution.

Security in a smart home is obviously dependent on the development of IoT technologies, which is conditioned by the attention payed by the industry (and its companies) to the issue. It seems that it is up to consumers to show that safety is a feature just as important as any other when it comes to technology and, in particular, to smart homes.