I’ve written many articles on smart home gadgets and their many benefits. Today, an estimated 70 million U.S. households use smart home devices. That’s an increase of 10% from last year, and the list of connected devices keeps growing: thermostats, door locks, security cameras, dishwashers, lightbulbs, ovens, toothbrushes, etc.
However, they also increase the possibility of a security breach. As the saying goes, you’re only as strong as your weakest link. One unsecured device provides a path for a bad actor to access personal information on your network or use your devices for other nefarious purposes, like attacking a website by flooding it with traffic (called a distributed denial-of-service attack).
Often, smart home devices lack the virus protection and security software of your computer or smartphone. They also don’t frequently update their software to address security vulnerabilities. But there are steps you can take to secure your smart home devices.
