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Technology has been evolving in bigger leaps and bounds over the past decade. What was once exclusive to your computer and military intelligence has become a staple in everyday life. With the potential to create a streamlined life and making every single thing from waking up each morning to sleeping in a well-secured home at night, smart technology has come a long way and has integrated itself seamlessly with our daily lives. In India, investing in a good home automation, Wi-Fi enabled appliances and integration of your home environment with your mobile is considered the simplest of ways to become a member of the revolution of smart homes. With the current hype over how brilliant and powerful smart technology is, people easily assume that home automation and security systems are safe, though that is not quite true. Home Automation isn’t always perfectly secure. In home automation, the primary focus should be on the safety and security of your personal network, or in other words, the Internet of Things (IoT), which is your personal network of devices that store, gather and communicate with the use and each other using the Internet. This may be a small a task as connecting your coffee machine to your phone so that it begins to brew every morning you wake up or having the latest news delivered to your refrigerator’s Wi-Fi enabled screen and on which groceries you’ll need to remember to pick up for your child’s scheduled birthday party. However, because all of these devices rely on the security of your home internet, they are vulnerable to security breaches and hackers just like all your other online transactions. Of course, since your network links everything from your security system, to your front door, medical data and even the baby monitor, this is one part of security that you cannot afford anyone meddling with. The truth is with every device that you connect to your network, hackers are given another potential pass into the network. Because most smart devices are meant to be low-cost gadgets designed for immediate demands of clients rather than being robust and highly secure, many of today’s electronics are introduced into the market without a fully developed and fully tested security or encryption protocol. In addition to that, when a customer uses different devices and network services, the personal information customers share with the company and their policies of use vary drastically which ultimately leads to very different ways in which your personal information can be used or misused. Thankfully, there are several ways you can help reduce these security risks. One of the major influences to building a hack resistant network is to always keep security the number one priority. This is especially true in home automation where you stand to lose more than just your identity. It is easier to begin by securing your networking system rather than patching up or reinforcing a weaker one. Do your homework and read about every device you want to connect to your home network before you even think about connecting it. Do not be taken in by the unnecessarily flamboyant features of new devices but don’t stick with old devices that may be running outdated encryption, making them a weak link. Also consider whether the company offers a life time security support for free or for a small fee; this will allow you to periodically call in an expert and make sure everything is up to date and running without any kinks in the software. While it may be an incredible experience to build a home automation system from scratch, make sure every that every part of it is secure. Look for a company or a group of developers who emphasise on creating sustainable and secure devices. Systems should be able to update over time, rather than be delegated to the obsolete system pile as soon as a newer model rolls out. Look for high encryption protocols, control access within the system and authorization strength. Most developers suggest that custom security settings are really what should be used, rather than the default security settings of any device. These default setting configurations are commonly available to anyone and it doesn’t take much for a simple cyber attack to override them. Something many people get wrong is having a strong password. Make sure it is something random, include capital letters, numbers and symbols to make it harder for the average hacker to take a gander at it and when possible, have a two or three step authentication process. Likewise, always take time to set up your network security, because that is what will hold all your devices, including your home security system in place when the attack comes. Always try to upgrade your security whenever possible. Routers can be programmed to set up more than one network. Take advantage of this feature and keep your more delicate information separate from your Wi-Fi enabled toaster, baby monitor and TV. Make sure your Wi-Fi is WPA2 encrypted with a complex password. Despite all this, make sure that you know what to do when there is an attack. Limit stored personal information, pin numbers and passwords and their sharing over your network, no matter how secure it is. If there is a breach, contact the police to file a report and make sure you change everything that matters including security codes, credit and bank cards and even email passwords. Stay wary of new home automation systems but don’t forget to take advantage of them as well. Author Bio: The author is an instrumentation engineer from one of Chennai’s leading universities and loves to pull apart stuff and put them back together. You can always find him engaged in DIY home automation in Chennai or reading up on the latest in the field. He is a regular contributor and you can read several of his articles here.
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