5 Ways to keep your Smart Home Safe
IoT Security for your Smart Home
While we all love the convenience of our smart devices, are we making it easier for hackers to get our info? The hackers have hacked into just about everything by now. From thermostats to autonomous vehicles. What’s stopping them from hacking into your home control system, checking the cameras to make sure you’re not home and opening the door to walk right in? It’s the firewall. The firewall controls the internet access through your router thus controls access to your connected devices in your home. Think of it like this: If you router is the digital doorway to your home, the firewall is the lock on the door.
Here are 5 ways to keep your Smart Home Safer
- Make sure all of your devices are up to date. You may receive notifications on your phone for your aps to be updated. However, not all of your connected devices will do the same. You’ll have to do this for each device individually. It may take a while to do this, depending on how many devices you have, or you can call us and we’ll do it for you.
- If possible, you may want to have two different Wi-Fi networks set up. One for your computers, tablets and phones. The other for all of your smart devices and security systems.
- Use a router that has a firewall and specifically protects your Wi-Fi and access points. Access points do not have firewall functions, and will not protect your local network against threats from the Internet.
- Try having a VPN set up. Virtual Private Network. It’s like a secondary doorway, if the router is the doorway and the firewall is the lock on the door, the VPN is the alarm system. It protects your data by encrypting it. Does this sound too complicated or unnecessary? If you don’t have an IT guy in your life, call us. We can help you out.
- Then there’s a more robust firewall that actually learns your usage patterns and notifies you when something is wrong. These are referred to as SIEM (Security Information and Event Manager) can spot when new devices are added to the home network, identify them, note what they should or should not be doing, and look for patterns. It learns what is normal for users and then provides alerts when something is wrong.
While businesses require robust firewalls to protect their information and office activity, enterprise firewalls are overkill for residential needs. The good news is that there are firewalls designed for residential use to give you that additional protection for your connected home. Contact us today and we’ll go over your home network, connected devices and smart devices. Together we can make a plan to protect your smart home.