Summer started and your kids are spending way more time at home. When they’re not glued to their screens playing video games or watching TikTok, they may dabble with your smart devices. All it takes is for Alexa to overhear someone mentioning to order 100 chicken nuggets to the address, and you’ll just see a notification show up on your phone. Not only that, but kids are much more likely to order things they see in their ads. Of course, unless they get busy spending time outside which is highly recommended.
On top of that, cybercriminals are always targeting smart home appliances or internet of things (IoT). They can hack into your network through a wireless printer (or any other device connected to the internet) and start gathering data on you. With so many things that can go wrong, you need to know how to safeguard all the devices.
Set Up Parental Controls
First things first – parental controls. You don’t want to come home to a massive jumbo-size garden pool that your kids ordered. Or to catch your kids watching adult content. Password-lock the channels you don’t want your kids to be watching, and add multi-factor authentication for every purchase through a smart home device.
That way, you’ll need to open your authenticator app or receive an SMS message to confirm a payment. To ensure no one is snooping on what your kids are watching, make sure to protect the IP address. You can use an Apple TV VPN to encrypt your data and even secure the entire network.
Consider which smart devices you really need
Cybercriminals are super smart. They know how to hack cameras and spy on you. They can use lasers to manipulate microphones. And they can compromise an entire security system with a single smart plug. You need to have some reservations about connecting your entire home to the net.
The benefits are incredibly lucrative if you know how to take advantage of the security features. It doesn’t matter if you have a voice assistant, a full smart kitchen, or a wireless printer, you need to make a deal with yourself. Are you okay with Alexa listening to every conversation you have and uploading it to the internet? Do you think that’s a perk of the future or an invasion to your privacy? You need to settle on what constitutes convenience and approach your smart home privacy.
Secure your network
Most of the routers come pre-installed with the password “admin.” Hackers will breach it in half a second if you don’t change it. If that happens, they can poke around in every device until they get to your phone and eventually your credit card information.
The first thing you need to do is secure the Wi-Fi network with a long and complex password. You can also add another layer of security by connecting it to a VPN and encrypting all the data that passes through the router. That’s a step in the right direction.
Update the firmware
The software that powers every single IoT device, as well as your router, is called firmware. You need to ensure it’s updated to the latest version. Sometimes this happens automatically, but more often than not you need to do it manually. Updates happen because of new features, bug fixes, and security patches.
You don’t want to miss out on a critical security bug and allow bad actors to gain control over your entire network. The best thing you can do for your smart home is to set a reminder to check for updates at a specific date in the month. If that’s too much of a hassle, select the auto-update option, but be wary of the risk of automatic downloads from third-party servers.
Get a new router
If you keep up with the latest smart home tech, you probably get a new device, phone, tablet, or laptop every year. But when was the last time you upgraded your router? If it’s been catching dust for a few years, it’s probably time to replace it.
You might think that because your internet speed hasn’t decreased, you don’t need to change it. But the security is probably suffering. An old router comes with old security protocols, which hackers know like the back of their hands. Get yourself a router that has a standard Wi-Fi 7.
Manage the passwords for every device
You can control every smart device through a mobile app. So that means you need to have an account for each one. And every account comes with a username and a password. You need a unique password for every smart device in your home.
Using the same one is easy, but from a security standpoint, it’s like you’re shooting yourself in the foot. The moment one of those accounts gets breached, hackers will have the keys to every other device. Use a random password generator and a trusted password manager to ensure you stay safe.
Divide your network
The FBI in 2019 warned that your laptop and your fridge should not be on the same network. You need to keep your smartphones, tablets, and laptops on a separate network from your other IoT devices. Cybercriminals don’t care if you’re running low on spinach and carrots. They want to steal the data from your banking apps.
Routers let you create a secondary guest network, and you can connect your IoT devices and gadgets to that one. This allows for more bandwidth when streaming, and if any malware gets installed, it won’t cross over to the main network.
Monitor who’s connected
If you feel suspicious about network security, you can manually check who’s connected to the Wi-Fi. There are programs that show every device on the router and cross-check with every smart home appliance you have.
This will take a bit of time, but it’s essential to have a clue about all the people making the Netflix stream buffer. If you’re more concerned about breaches, you might want to get a full-on security suite and keep all cybercrime at bay.
