Khaberni - While smart technologies provide comfort and high safety in managing homes, they simultaneously add a record of potential security vulnerabilities.
With the proliferation of smart devices in modern homes, such as smart locks, surveillance cameras, smart plugs, and heating and voice control systems, the issue of cyber hacking of these devices and its risks has become a topic of concern for users. Despite the presence of this threat, fortunately, it can be avoided through implementing simple precautionary steps.
A smart home breach means an unauthorized person can hack the network or one of the smart devices in the home, allowing them to control the devices and access your private data without your knowledge. These attacks usually involve exploiting weak passwords, unsecured Wi-Fi networks, or not updating software.
Common signs of hacking
Signs that may indicate a potential hack can appear on smart devices, such as devices operating unusually on their own, changes in settings without user intervention, slow network, or clear and unjustified data consumption. Although these signs are not exclusive to hacking, they warrant a quick examination of the device and network.
Prevention tips
To prevent hacking, experts recommend using strong and unique passwords, as this is one of the most important preventative measures since device default passwords are often easy to guess or publicly available.
Experts also emphasize the importance of enabling multi-factor authentication, which adds a second layer of protection, such as entering a code sent to your phone after the password, making it much harder for hackers to gain access even if they obtain the basic password.
Securing the Wi-Fi network
An unprotected Wi-Fi network represents a common entry point for attacks, so it is essential to change the default router password, use strong encryption like WPA2 or WPA3, and restrict network access only to trusted devices.
Additionally, it is very important to regularly update devices and software, as this is among the most important methods of closing security loopholes that hackers might exploit.
Unnecessary features
Some features of smart devices, such as remote access or unsecured voice control, may provide unwanted entry points. Disabling these features when not needed reduces the chances of getting hacked.
