Via Oregon - November/December 2020 - 16

SMART LIFE

LEFT: Even home-security systems
can be hacked. RIGHT: Your smart
speaker may be vulnerable, too.

Secure your
smart home
devices
The tech you use to make
your home smarter shouldn't
make it less safe.
Have a smart speaker at home?
An intelligent thermostat? A video
doorbell? For more and more of us,
Internet-connected devices like
these are making our homes smarter
and easier to manage. But they have
one big downside: They can be vulnerable to security threats.
Unless they're properly managed,
smart home devices can be taken
over by bad actors to do things

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such as override your security system. They could also give attackers
access to the rest of your home
network-and your data.
"Securing your home network as
part of installing your smart home
security system is the most important thing you can do," says David
Judkins, cybersecurity lead for A3
Smart Home. Here are four ways
to do just that.

1

Make your router and network
harder to hack. If your router is
more than two years old, replace it.
Otherwise, be sure its software is
up-to-date and its administrator password is strong. If you don't know
how to check and change its configuration, consult the manual.
Secure your Wi-Fi network with
a unique password and user name.
Change the name of the network
(SSID) from the default; don't use
a name that would help an attacker
identify it (such as your address).

2

Make sure you're using robust
encryption. Before you buy
or install any smart device in your
home-especially if it's related to
security, such as a door lock-check
its compliance with the Advanced
Encryption Standard (AES).

3

Use strong passwords. Follow
the same password rules for
your smart devices as you do for your
bank and other sensitive online
accounts. If a device supports twofactor authentication-meaning you
get a text message with a numeric
code each time you log in-use it.

4

Keep firmware current. Install
firmware updates for your
devices as soon as they're available.
(Many devices will do this for you
automatically.) Periodically rebooting your devices and your router will
help your network remain secure.

- C H R I S TO P H E R

NULL

LEFT: ROSSHELEN / SHUTTERSTOCK; RIGHT: MARTÍ SANS / STOCKSY

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