Cyber attacks against smart home devices can cost money, lead to identity theft, and in rare cases even cause break-ins. Find out how to protect yourself with the following top tips.

Use strong passwords that are unique to each device, and make sure you also update apps and firmware regularly (sometimes including security patches that reduce potential points of vulnerability).

Change Default Passwords

For this reason, crooks can break into smart devices with default passwords and employ them for criminal purposes, so these items ought to be furnished with strong and different passwords as often as possible to prevent their security being compromised. Tips to keep your Atomi devices always safe include; change the default configuration on initially set up, enable two-factor authentication, and always buy from trusted sellers.

Enable Two-Factor Authentication

As a host of smart home devices work off an app, 2FA again can act as a mitigating factor, should your credentials become compromised as a result of a data breach. Upgrade your devices as soon as security patches and updates become available. If you neglect firmware/software upgrades, hackers will get busy looking for new vulnerabilities and trying to hack IoT devices.

Regularly Update Your Devices

Homeowners who want to keep their smart-home devices adequately protected in terms of privacy and security need to stay on top of firmware updates. Firms regularly release firmware updates to patch the vulnerabilities that could allow hackers to read data or even control the device as if it were their own. Meanwhile, reserving a guest network on the router for IoT devices will also help protect them from using a direct plug-in access point: if the miniature device is hacked and infected with malware, it will not pass on the bug to other gadgets in the network.

Disable Unnecessary Features

Indeed, it’s often the case that many smart devices have a myriad of superfluous functionality, including microphones and cameras. Such features should be disabled wherever possible as that serves not just to reduce a device’s attack surface, but also any attendant privacy concerns. Reading through a device’s privacy policies and following how data is captured and shared are also part of the process of stewardship for smart home appliances that seeks to safeguard against cyber threats. Patching is likewise a part of the process that allows devices to survive potential security vulnerabilities.

Disconnect or Turn Off Smart Devices

When Not in Use While smart home technology might make us start to feel fearful (all those stories of cameras being hacked to spy on your family, or about a data breach by IoT devices), that concern shouldn’t take away from the benefits to connected appliances and systems. Shutting them down or unplugging them while not in use helps to curb cyber attacks. Reducing the amount of targets is also possible. Dedicating a portion of your IoT network to devices will limit the impact if an attack is successful. Having different sets of rules for IoT devices and regular ones Online shopping is immensely convenient, making it no surprise that most households making over $100,000 per year regularly engage in such activities. However, it’s also true that financial crimes are on the rise. Just last year, credit card skimmers, malicious software used on fuel pumps, stole an estimated quarter of a billion dollars from unfortunate purchasers. For consumers, it might seem prudent to use mobile wallets for payment. Devices such as smartphones can defeat skimmers because there are no cards present to scan. Nevertheless, companies are starting to make a move against these wallets. Earlier this year, three chains, including Walmart, announced that they wouldn’t be accepting Apple Pay at their businesses.

Secure Your Wi-Fi Network

But with more houses embracing the Internet of things, attackers now have multiple entry points – accessing your private life via your connected devices. Cybercriminals hacking into your smart-home network could use those devices to spy on your family life, harvesting all sorts of personal details. The default passwords on your home router can be changed and it should support strong encryption – the scrambling of data so hackers can’t see it – as well as an ability to offer a guest Wi-Fi network for visitors or any IoT devices you may own, to help isolate them from your main network.

Encrypt Your Data

Anyone who has a smart home appliance of any kind knows that they routinely collect information from users and share it with their vendors, which can in turn be used to prank or spy on users. And here are our top tips to help you to stay protected and safe: How to stay safe Use secured Wi-Fi networks and strong passwords creating critical security barriers against the hackers. Devices tonight to stay up-to-date. Like this guide, they offer decent protection against cyber-attacks.

Disable Third-Party Apps and Compatible Devices

Smart home devices are rife with software that can be exploited, putting you at risk of being invaded or injured. Ideally, password-protect everything, and turn two-factor authentication on wherever possible. Keep device firmware up-to-date so that any security holes can be patched as quickly as possible. Also, buy network security software to monitor device activity. It will alert you if there is access that should not be happening.

Reputable Manufacturers

As smart home comes with lots of advantages, you should not forget that it as well can be a harm; as there are hackers all the times finding or inventing some new ways to enter to your devices or get control over them, hackers are on the search for a gate to sensitive data or access. Hackers can end up with devices ranging from those sold by major manufacturers to those presented as ready-to-use and supplied via dark-web stores; and once in, they can tamper with thermostats and actuators, or use your devices as springboards into your home network. You can lessen their chance of getting into your devices by purchasing only from reputable sources.

Keep Your Smart Devices Updated

The more smart devices we have in our homes, the greater they become as a target for a criminal. As long as people’s personal details can be accessed, home networks can be hijacked and their resources used to enable theft and intimidation, even cyberbullying. You should maintain and upgrade your devices regularly with new features as well as security patches, in order to protect them from new attacks. This will keep your devices up-to-date.