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How to stop hackers targeting everything from your appliances to the air conditioner.
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hackers → stop → conditioner
Everything is connected to the internet these days.
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Everything → connect → internet
Devices that you wouldn’t expect to have a Wi-Fi signal latch onto your router to provide connected features.
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you → expect → features
Unfortunately, as AI pokes holes in our legacy cybersecurity infrastructure, these devices are now vulnerable to attacks.
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devices → poke → attacks
Here’s what to look for and what you can do about it
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you → look → it
Smart devices come in all shapes and sizes.
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devices → come → shapes
Every day, you reach for your phone, tablet, laptop, maybe a wearable.
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you → reach → phone
There’s an entire category of smart home devices — dubbed broadly as the internet of things — that connect to your Wi-Fi, giving rogue AI bots and threat actors a direct route to the systems that run your humble abode.
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that → ’ → abode
Even if only one or two of these smart devices are connected to your home network, you could be providing hackers with a pathway to access all of your devices and take down your digital life.
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you → connect → life
With a few exceptions, most of them lack account authentication or encryption, and their software isn’t maintained for maximum security.
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software → lack → security
These devices are sitting ducks, waiting for even the most inept hacker to come along and exploit them
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hacker → sit → them
Once inside, a hacker could cause all kinds of trouble in your home.
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hacker → cause → home
He could spy on you through the security camera in your living room, eavesdrop on conversations through microphones embedded in smart thermostats, or, as Europe recently found out, spoil the food in your fridge with an unauthorized temperature change.
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Europe → spy → change
Even worse, hackers can use one IOT device to hack into other devices and compromise your entire Wi-Fi network.
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hackers → use → network
The internet of things is a huge market spanning tons of different products.
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internet → span → products
We couldn’t possibly list all of them, but we rounded up some of the biggest ones to look for in your home.
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we → list → home
Kitchen appliances
Smart kitchen appliances are all largely built around convenience.
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appliances → build → convenience
Smart fridges, like those made by Samsung, use AI to track which items come in and out of your fridge to help you put together meal plans and know when to replenish your food stock.
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you → make → stock
Smart ovens, like the June Oven, use an internal camera to scan the food put inside to generate an optimal cooking plan, complete with timing, temperatures, and more.
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ovens → use → timing
Virtually every appliance these days offers smart options — toasters with touch screens, dishwashers with voice assistant support to start and stop a cleaning cycle, smart washers and dryers that do the same.
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that → offer → same
There are even coffee makers that can schedule your morning cup of brew.
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that → be → brew
All of these are convenient, yet a single compromise can cause a fire, invite water damage, or spoil your food, all of which would take thousands of dollars to fix.
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all → cause → dollars
RELATED: How to protect yourself and your data during the PHP web meltdown
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Home security
Another huge segment of the IOT industry is home security.
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segment → protect → industry
We like to think that security devices — including indoor cameras, doorbell cameras, and smart locks — are all safe, but these can provide a treasure trove of data and opportunities for hackers.
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these → like → hackers
Indoor cameras from companies like Ring, Nest, and more capture everything that happens in your home.
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that → capture → home
All it takes is a sophisticated hacker to break in and steal private footage of you and your living room, bedroom, or wherever you have a camera set up.
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camera → take → you
If any of the footage is compromising, you could be made a victim of blackmail or extortion.
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you → compromise → blackmail
Hackers could easily unlock your front door so that anyone can come inside — or lock your home to keep you trapped within.
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anyone → unlock → you
Pair this with a fire hazard caused by a hack on your oven or toaster, and you could ultimately lose your life in a tragic incident.
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you → pair → incident
Lighting, cleaning, climate, and comfort
How much do you value the convenience of changing the temperature in your house from your smartphone, or flipping on a light without getting up, or cleaning the floors without touching a vacuum?
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you → value → vacuum
Modern innovations like smart thermostats, smart lights, and robot vacuums remove the hassle of maintaining a home, freeing you up to do other things with your time.
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innovations → remove → time
Unfortunately, if any of these systems are compromised, they could cause some serious trouble.
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they → compromise → trouble
For instance, a hacked thermostat could lock your temperature at an uncomfortable setting, either so hot or so cold that it drives you out of your home, leaving it vacant and unprotected.
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it → hack → it
A hacked smart light can prevent bulbs from turning on or cause them to flicker.
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them → hack → bulbs
Many robot vacuums today come equipped with cameras and microphones that can record video and audio of you in your home.
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that → come → home
Even seemingly innocuous smart devices, like air purifiers, toothbrushes, and smart weight scales, can all provide pathways to hack other devices on your network.
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devices → provide → network
There are other smart items in your home that you could easily forget are smart at all — electrical plugs, phone chargers, Bluetooth speakers, home hubs, and displays.
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you → be → home
How to tell if you have smart devices in your home
At this point, you might wonder how many smart devices you actually have in your house.
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you → tell → house
If it’s been a while since you set them up, you may not remember which appliances have connected features and which ones don’t.
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ones → set → features
First, if you regularly use any of your home appliances or accessories through an app on your phone, those devices are likely connected to your Wi-Fi.
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devices → use → Fi
…and 19 more, not listed.
The Aporia
