Joining Forces to Make Smart Homes Cyber Secure
13 April 2023
While the smart home offers us true benefits by making our lives easier, even helping us to save money and energy, the growing number of connected devices in our homes come with inherent security risks. Making our smart homes cyber secure, will be a joint effort between people, network providers, device manufacturers and governments.
According to the annual cybersecurity report1 from CUJO AI, over 67% of home networks are exposed to at least one online threat every month. Computers and internet protocol cameras are particularly at risk (see graph), but storage and video devices like digital video recorders and smart TVs are also vulnerable to unauthorized access, malware, data breaches or other cyber-attacks.
Distribution of Threats by Device Type
Source: CUJO AI.2
Smart Home Security Can Be a Struggle
Preventing cyber-attacks involves a multi-layered approach that addresses potential vulnerabilities at every level (hardware, network, application), as well as educating home owners about the risks they face. Keeping up with basic network security measures (e.g. firewall and anti-virus software) goes a long way to prevent attacks, as does using strong passwords and updating device firmware.
Unfortunately, most homeowners lack the technical expertise to protect their devices and home networks; some are unaware that they need to. Even something as inconspicuous as a smart switch can be a security risk, allowing hackers access to a home network and all the associated (personal) information on it. Hackers use that information for burglary, identity theft and other forms of privacy violations.
As the World Economic Forum noted in a recent article3, security weaknesses often occur. Some devices, for example, are released with outdated and unsupported versions of operating systems and no options to update them. According to CUJO AI4, a provider of AI-powered security for the home, such devices are most at risk, with hackers using automated scripts and specialized search engines to scan for such devices and attack when they find one.
The Market Is Simplifying Security
Fortunately, governments, device manufacturers, internet service providers (ISPs) and employers are acting to address the increasing threat. They are helping people to make their homes cyber secure.
Last September, EU lawmakers proposed a new set of product rules to compel electronics manufacturers to pay more attention to devices’ security5 throughout their lifecycles (this includes security support and updates to patch emerging vulnerabilities). Moreover, the draft regulation wants the manufacturers to ensure that buyers can understand security considerations and set up devices securely.
The smart home standard Matter can also help a lot with security. In fact, the standard is “secure by design”. It has measures in place that prevent unauthorized persons from penetrating a network, intercepting commands or planting “hostile” products in the smart home that compromise security from within.6
Platform companies also have a role to play. CUJO AI1 notes that Apple is one of the safest smart home brands; only 6% of all threats affected its devices. This shows the value of Apple HomeKit’s strict security specifications. Consumer electronics companies such as Belkin use this as a unique selling point. Belkin’s family of Wemo products including smart plugs, switches and dimmers integrate with Apple HomeKit, using the association to stand out against cheaper and less secure products.7
As our homes’ trusted cyber gatekeepers, many ISPs now offer security as an added service. Indeed, making people more aware of the risks they face could turn security into one of the core features of the ISP service instead of the add-on it is today.
With a growing number of people working from home, employers are also taking their responsibility, using security companies such as ZScaler of CrowdStrike to respond to cyber threats, and ensure that employees have fast access to all their applications from any device and network.
Together We Take Care of Security
Even with governments and industry players making devices and networks secure by design, home owners themselves can perform some simple actions. Start with using strong passwords. Change the standard name of your router and wifi network. And, keep your devices and software up to date.
The smart home brings great benefits. Keeping it cyber secure takes a joint effort from all parties involved.
1 https://cujo.com/resources/device-security-report-2023/
2 https://cujo.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Threats-to-devices-by-type-2023.png
3 https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/02/who-is-responsible-for-cybersecurity-in-the-home/
5 https://techcrunch.com/2022/09/15/eu-cyber-resilience-act-draft/
6 https://matter-smarthome.de/en/benefits/benefits-of-matter-4-security-and-privacy/
7 https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/15/23641930/belkin-matter-wemo-smart-home
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