Security in Smart Homes is a very important element in any home, especially if it is a smart home, where connectivity is one of the characteristics that influence the model of a house, such as, for example, the home theater design atlanta.
It is a fact that technology has served as the direct way in which we will find an endless number of opportunities and advantages that were previously impossible to think, but today, different ideas and projects are a reality from the comfort of our home. Here are some of the best ways to keep our homes safe.
Tips on keeping your Connected Home Secure
When it comes to maintaining a level of security in a smart home, it is important to follow certain rules, bearing in mind that connectivity and technology play an important role in the way we safeguard the valuable items and data that our home stores.
The home theater design Atlanta is included within these important aspects and some of the best tips we can mention are:
- Domestic networks. Home networks must be maintained privately, without being shared with other people.
- If this is not necessary, IoT devices should not be connected to the home network. In particular, a Smart Tv should not be connected to the WLAN if mainly if you watch cable TV.
- Network for Iot: If the WiFi router can create several networks, it is interesting to implement a special network for IoT devices and thus interrupt access to the usual network.
- Closed networks in WLAN. It is best to create several closed network areas for Home Office, entertainment, security or guest network, each with different WLAN.
- Secure VPN technology. You should not use unsecured port forwarding on the router to gain remote access to your IoT devices from the Internet. Instead, use secure VPN technology on your smartphone or Mac / PC.
- Updated software – It is preferable to install updated antivirus (AV) software on all your PCs, Macs and Android smartphones.
- Latest firmware. Not only the PC, laptop or smartphones, but each IoT device needs to run with the most up-to-date firmware to be as safe as possible.
- Searching this tool allows a quick overview if the chosen product is already a target of hackers or has even been hacked.
Security in Smart Homes Challenges
With the word “smart” we call any device or device connected to the Internet. This implies that, inside, you have a minicomputer or a motherboard with certain advanced functions that are the ones that endow you with that intelligence. But this intelligence is not active, that is, it depends on how its manufacturer and subsequent owner program it.
We have been living with computers for several decades and the love-hate relationship allows many of us to be aware of how many tasks are made easier but of the dangers involved in having it connected to the Internet constantly without security measures (such as a firewall or antivirus) and without updating the software regularly.
The same goes for mobile devices. Android is the main victim of mobile malware and basically affects outdated smartphones. Not only smartphones, but also TVs or other devices with Android installed. This can be also noticeable on home theater design Atlanta
Recently we have seen what happens when the connected technology is not updated. The WannaCry ransomware attack took advantage of a Windows vulnerability that had been discovered the previous month.
New technologies, old habits. The security challenges of smart homes have a solution but require certain actions on the part of users and manufacturers of these connected devices.
First of all, manufacturers should be more aware of the danger of not updating the firmware or software of their devices. The problem is to focus on designing and creating new versions of their products rather than taking care of existing products that will eventually become vulnerable.
What to do
For our part, we have several solutions to protect our intelligent houses, present or future, such as changing the default passwords of the devices, if possible, and pay attention to the security of the main gateway: the router.
The Internet of Things works by connecting to the network, and the center of the networks are the routers. Hence the importance of keeping them updated, changing the default password to one as complex as possible, limiting connections from outside, and so on including home theater design Atlanta.
For their part, security firms are already becoming aware of the fact that more and more devices will be connected and that it is more effective to protect them all centrally instead of installing security tools one by one.
Now the goal is for a single product to protect multiple computers, tablets, or smartphones, centralizing configuration and maintenance through user and administrator accounts that define predefined rules and locks. The tool, for its part, monitors connections within the same network rather than being limited to one device itself.
Therefore, centralizing security and protecting all devices connected to the same network from a multiplatform tool is the tendency to follow in order that intelligent houses, domotics or the Internet of Things are something beneficial and we only have to worry about enjoying this technology.
