Hacking a smart home device like a vacuum cleaner or smart security camera is easy when nobody has changed the default password. And yet around half of users can’t be bothered.
It sounds like a no-brainer, and yet plenty of people just can’t be bothered.
Changing the password on a smart device at home, like a robot vacuum cleaner or smart security camera, is an absolute must in order to keep hackers from hijacking your home network and getting access to any personal devices on it.
Nevertheless, roughly every second person with a smart home device that can be controlled by smartphone will leave the original password untouched after buying, according to a recent study by technical inspection agencies.
This default password is notoriously easy to hack, which is why the German Association of Technical Inspection Agencies (VdTUV) was surprised to find 47% of users readily admitting they never changed it.
A secure password consists of at least eight characters, including upper and lower case letters, numbers and special characters. It should also not be a normal word from the dictionary or be easy to guess.
You may also want to consider which devices really need to be able fully connect to the Internet and the outside world. It can be enough to just have them integrated into the home network and control them only inside the building via smartphone or tablet (and not from a work, for example). This makes it harder for hackers to gain access to the network.
If you’re really into smart home devices, you might consider getting a separate WLAN network just for these devices, which has no connection to any computers and tablets on which your personal data is stored.
Experts say devices that are particularly critical for security, such as networked alarm systems or surveillance cameras, should only be connected with a cable, if possible, and should not be given access to the wireless network.
In addition, you should make sure when choosing a device, that any data it sends is encrypted. This makes for far more secure communication between the actual device, the router and the app on your smartphone.
