Home Automation – Technology has truly advanced to the point that it has surpassed our imagination. Who would have thought that there would be home automation now? Or at least, nobody expects home automation to be fully functional and advanced now. However, its advantages can also become setbacks, and we need to secure our home automation to prevent those setbacks.
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What is Home Automation?
Have you ever seen someone controlling his home appliances via his phone? If you have, then you’ve seen how its works.
To simplify, its the concept where you control your appliances using the same shared network and exact application. Usually, you would purchase the devices under the same brand so that they can synchronize using the brand’s innovative app. This feature makes it easy to customize your appliances with just a few clicks. Plus, most intelligent home automation appliances are designed aesthetically, making them appear pleasing to the eyes.
Thanks to its perks, home automation is gaining fame. It is predicted that more than 50% of US households will have intelligent home automation by 2023.
Why secure home automation?
Although it makes it easy to control home appliances, we cannot avoid that other people can control them because our it connection can be hacked. here are also other serious reasons why it’s pivotal for us to secure and maintain our home automation.
1. Security issue
The most important of all is the security issue. Once a hacker gets through the system and knows your home appliances, there is a big chance for them to monitor you through the system you’ve installed yourself. For example, you might have CCTV using a shared system. If the hacker controls the system, there’s a big chance he might see your CCTV, which results in the hacker monitoring you.
Although it is just an example, there have been cases where hackers monitor children through webcams. If it can happen to a webcam, then it can happen to your home appliances if the connection is not secured.
2. Unsafe one-for-all system
Although having a one-for-all system is convenient for us, it can be troublesome if the system itself has issues. A hacker going through one home appliance is already bad enough, but if he can go through the entire application system, he can control everything.
There are also times when he can get personal data from the application, as we give specific permissions for the application to access our data. From our contacts to payment information, cybercriminals can steal them just by hacking one application. Hence, we must secure our home automation and network.
3. Foreign system
Although manual home appliances can be a pain when broken, we can fix them ourselves. Or, when we call someone, we understand how the repair system works. But what happens if our home automation system and appliances are broken?
When our intelligent and its broken, we have no choice but to request an expert from the company to fix it. Asking the expert is not the issue, but the alien method of improving the system is. After all, we don’t know how the repair procedure is done. The system is foreign for us who are not experts, and we have no way of knowing whether strange additional things are added to our system.
How to secure our home automation
As we can see, the risk of exposing the home automation and network is too significant. Hence, we need to secure our home automation properly. Here are some things you can do to ensure the system:
1. Constant update
The system constantly updates the application for home automation. Always ensure that your application is updated to get the latest security, information, and features for your home appliances. If possible, set up the settings so the system can update itself so that you don’t need to check for updates manually.
2. Use VPN
If you want to encrypt your data, you can use VPN. VPN works wonders because it “falsely” sends your data when sent to the connection, meaning that your X data will be seen as Z by the potential hacker. You can use an individual VPN or built-in VPN such as Chrome VPN, so your devices won’t work that hard compared to using separate VPN software.
3. Use strong passwords
Ensure you use a strong password for your application’s account or other devices that need accounts to operate. Strong passwords have always been proven to prevent hacking. The stronger the password is, the less chance the password generator will be able to generate it. If you can’t make a strong password, you can use password generators such as LastPass.
Safe home automation, safe home
Its great for those who want an easy and hassle-free house, as it allows its owner to control their home appliances efficiently. However, the system has a risk that can endanger the entire home. Hence, we should secure the system by regularly updating the application, using a VPN, and creating bulletproof passwords. If your home automation system is safe, your house and your family will also be safe.
