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October 1, 2024 |

How to Improve the Security of Your Smart Home

There’s been a paradigm shift in Americans’ top priority for spending money on their homes. According to the Shelton Group’s recent survey, homeowners now want safety and security over comfort. Buyers are requesting smart home features to be built in right out of the gate, and builders are meeting these demands.

Interoperability, security, and ease of use are essential for these smart systems. According to Branded Research, builders cite the top benefits of convenience, eco-friendliness, and safety. Homeowners want the convenience, peace of mind, monitoring, safety, and security that come with such systems, according to Z-Wave’s 2022 survey.

Builders who embrace smart technology see that it increases home values in today’s highly competitive marketplace. Homebuyers are willing to pay more for smart features. According to Statista, smart home sales in the United States are projected to reach almost $47 billion by 2025, approximately double that of 2020.

Ensuring smart home security

However, with a smart home system, there’s always a risk of hackers invading privacy and gaining access to personal information. Builders can help ensure system security by moving the operation of all those smart devices from the cloud to an onsite network at the home, with the help of a device called a “hub.” The hub comes with open source, community-driven software that can be installed on a variety of platforms and provides numerous integrations, allowing the user to control a device or entire category of devices.

This strategy removes all the individual apps controlling the many smart devices, reducing the chance of unaccountable third parties or companies gaining access to data about device usage. A recent study of connected devices across the industry by Northeastern University found that 72 of the 81 devices were sending information to third parties.

For wireless open-source systems, Wi-Fi routers should provide good security by incorporating a strong firewall or built-in virtual private network (VPN). Routers should also have at least two Wi-Fi bands and the ability to create a guest network. Smart devices can be assigned to this network, which makes it harder for hackers to access sensitive ID or account information. Consider a router that supports Wi-Fi 6 and WP3 encryption, which makes smart homes much harder to infiltrate even without a firewall.

Security tips for buyers

Although protocols have been and are in development to improve both privacy and security to the connected home, there are other ways homeowners can boost security. Encourage your buyers to follow these smart home security practices:

  • Avoid sharing personal information with devices. Review privacy and security settings.
  • Use authorized apps only. Choose apps based on professional and user reviews.
  • Always change the default password and enable two-factor authentication when possible.
  • Periodically delete stored data. Opt out of sharing data with third parties.
  • Install File Integrity Monitoring (FIM), which provides alerts about any unusual activity.
  • Keep all devices updated to the latest versions.
  • Periodically check connected devices on the router for suspicious activity.
  • Turn off the Wi-Fi network when it’s not in use.

Partner up

Homeowners are increasingly turning to home security companies as trusted providers of smart home technology. Consider partnering with one of these companies in your area to help educate yourself on how to use these systems securely.