(Newswire.net — July 20, 2017) — Smart homes are becoming all the rage. First our phones, then our watches, now, well, pretty much everything else.
A smart home is basically a home that can be controlled via a tablet or a smartphone, as well as voice commands and other sci-fi stuff that you always dreamed would happen but never thought would be this disappointing (let’s be honest, it’s not quite I, Robot).
But with every bit of new tech comes a stark warning: “keep an eye on your stuff, because hackers will steal it”. Okay, so maybe not that stark, but if CNN and my mentally unstable uncle are anything to be believed then those hackers are out there. So, check these tips for keeping them at bay.
Get the Latest Updates
Smart thermostats are the best way to control the temperature in your home. They are also fairly secure, but they can still be accessed by hackers, as can every other piece of tech in your home. It’s all connected to the same network and the thing that allows you to access that network at home and away, is the same thing that exposes it to others.
There is no fool-proof way to stop this, but you can stay on top of the hackers by making sure you get all of the latest updates. This is essential, as those fixes that you so readily dismiss are there to fix bugs and glitches that could leave your network exposed.
Use Unique Passwords
There is a strange trend for not changing default passwords with smart home tech. We all change our default password when we join a website, a forum or something else where sensitive info isn’t shared, but for some reason we’re less inclined to do so when we’re essentially safeguarding our home.
So, change the default password and make sure you use something unique, something that is different to any other password you have used. It’s hard to remember something new, but the alternative is to expose your home and everything in it to hackers.
Believe it or not, there are tens of millions of account passwords being sold on the internet from users who don’t even know their data is out there. If this includes you and you’re using the same password you’ve always used, then there’s a good chance it has already been bought and sold dozens of times and is currently known to hundreds of cyber criminals.
Buy a Brand You Can Trust
We all want cheap electronics. It’s understandable. If they don’t work, then who cares, they were cheap! But when it comes to smart home products, you can’t afford to take the risk. You need to buy from a brand you can trust because you’re giving that product access to everything you are and everything you do.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re a lawyer, a football player or unemployed. We all have sensitive information that hackers want and if you’re buying cheap electronics from those hackers, then they don’t even need to do any hard work to get what they want.