This is a series on home automation basics.
I’ve been covering some of the essentials like scenes & modes, automations, voice assistants,
and in this one, how to secure your smart home devices.
In the last video I walked through voice assistants and how to use them to make your smart home
more accessible.
If you haven't seen that one yet, I’ll include links in the description.
You can also jump back to the beginning of my home automation basics playlist to see
topics like scenes, routines, and geofencing.
But as I mentioned, in this video I’ll be jumping into securing your smart home.
With each smart home device you add, it’s like adding another tiny door into your home
for someone to hack open or take advantage of.
While I will be giving examples from different systems like SmartThings, Google, Amazon,
and others, this is meant to be a platform agnostic view on home automation.
These core concepts apply no matter what system you’re using.
If you’re just getting started, then this is the series to watch.
If you’re already building out your smart home, this may still spark some ideas.
Before we dive in, take a moment and hit the subscribe button, so you don’t miss out
on the full series and other future videos like this one.
I’m Matt Ferrell ... welcome to Undecided.
It’s enticing to save some money and buy a no-name brand for $5 vs. paying $25 for
a brand you’re familiar with.
The problem is that each of these devices are little computers running basic operating
systems.
Not every company takes the time to build out their computer systems with the care and
attention they require, so they may be running outdated software that has security vulnerabilities
that were never patched.
Or have default administrator usernames and passwords, which make it easy for a hacker
to take control of the system and then run amuck inside your home’s network.
Internet of Things manufactures aren’t spending enough time securing what they’re building,
so it’s on us to make sure we’re buying reputable devices and taking steps to secure
our homes.
If you don’t think this is a wide problem, then you should check out an HP Research Study
that found 70% of IoT devices were vulnerable to attack.
Or watch Ken Munro’s Ted Talk where he talks at length about how easy it is to hack a lot
of smart tech.
Twitter suffered a denial of service attack in October 2016 that was run from 300,000
hacked home security cameras.
This isn’t a problem that’s going away on its own.
Here’s a few rules I strongly recommend you follow:
Don’t buy IoT devices from a vendor unless it has proven security.
The old saying that, “if it seems too good to be true, it probably is,” is sometimes
the case.
Don’t jump on the cheapest options you find without doing a little research first.
Look up a manufacturer to see if there are any customer complaints or issues reported
with software problems.
See how long they’ve been in business and what their track record is for pushing updates
to their products.
Have they been in business for multiple years or are they brand new?
Reputable companies will have details on their terms of service and privacy policies, so
you can often find out where the servers are located and what countries and laws will be
protecting your privacy.
It’s important to know as much about the company before you plug in any company’s
device in your home.
Put your devices on a separate network Try your best to limit the number of devices
you put onto your home WiFi network.
On a practical level, too many devices on a WiFi network can end up causing instability
in your network.
A rule of thumb is to not go over about 50 devices on a single consumer grade router.
There are some that can handle more, but it’s generally not a good idea.
Every device that you add to your network can see every other device on your home network.
So one path to secure things would be to get a separate WiFi router that you can run a
secondary network isolated from your main system.
Put all of your home computers, smartphones, etc. onto the main WiFi network.
And then put all of your IoT devices on the second WiFi router running a completely separate
gateway.
This will make it impossible for any IoT device to see your home PC, Mac, or smart phone.
Another option that many routers include is a guest network.
For instance, I use the Eero mesh WiFi system for my home network.
I can run a completely separate guest network, which isolates anything on that WiFi network
from seeing not only my main WiFi devices, but from seeing any other devices on the guest
network.
It’s like putting a tiny firewall around every single device on the guest network.
And for Apple users, Apple announced a new secure WiFi setup as part of Apple HomeKit
(https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/3/18646453/apple-homekit-support-smart-home-security-routers-wwdc-2019).
It’s basically Eero’s guest WiFi technique brought to HomeKit.
Any supported HomeKit router will be able to automatically firewall off HomeKit accessories,
so they can’t access your full home network.
Linksys, Eero, and Spectrum are the first companies signed on to support that new feature.
Make sure you're devices are running the latest software
Many devices have firmware updates that come out from time to time to fix bugs, add new
features, and to plug security holes.
My Philips Hue hub has received numerous updates over the years, but you often have to keep
an eye out in that devices mobile app for those updates.
I’ll often see a notification icon on my Hue app that there’s an update to apply.
Be sure to check your Hue app, or iHome app, or fill in the blank app, from time to time
to see if there are any software or firmware updates available.
So that's the last of this initial set of videos, but keep an eye on this playlist and
the channel because I’ll be adding more to it over time.
Be sure to drop any questions or aspects to smart homes that you’d like to see me cover
in the comments.
You can also reach out to me on Twitter, Instagram, and my website.
And if you liked this video, be sure to give it a thumbs up and share with your friends
because it really helps the channel.
There are some other ways you can support the channel too.
Check out my SFSF Shop for some cool Tesla, Space X, science, and Undecided shirts.
There’s also other links in the description for some great Tesla accessories and discounts.
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Your support is really helping to make these videos possible.
Be sure to check out my Patreon page for additional details about joining the crew.
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And as always, thanks so much for watching, I’ll see you in the next one.