More and more homes are joining new technologies, some call them home automation homes, others smart homes, but the reality is that today even our toothbrush connects to the internet and it continues to be a door to access to our greatest treasure, our data.
To put ourselves in the situation, I will start by explaining that the Internet of Things or IoT, as its acronym is in English. IoT is a concept that tries to give connectivity to things, with the purpose of creating a connection or network between them and people and making our lives easier.
These devices can be connected through Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or other means and are normally controlled from a mobile app or a website.
If I start listing the number of devices that today incorporate Wi-Fi or Bluetooth we would get bored, but as I put in the title, there are everything from toothbrushes that tell us in the app whether we are cleaning our teeth well or not, scales for controlling our weight, hair dryers, health and medical devices, toys, animal or child trackers, smart vehicles and autonomous vehicles and of course, home automation and personal assistants such as Google Home or Alexa.
As people and things become more connected, the security of our data is jeopardized and the risk of cyberattacks on our network grows. The amount of information that IoT devices can collect about us and our environment is such that seizing That information makes our dear hackers very greedy.
For example, smartwatches record our steps, routes, heart rate, sleep patterns, and some even have our banking information to make payments.
How can we protect our devices from attacks?
It is very simple, to begin with, as I always say, reinforce the passwords of our network, we should never leave the factory password, since it is very easy to decipher, use IP filtering on the router, this way we will not allow anyone to enter that we have not previously authorized.
Do not use IoT devices on open, unsecured networks or where we do not know their origin, since, if we do so, we will be leaving the door open for the owner of the network to collect our information.
And finally, most importantly, keep all network devices updated, from the toothbrush to the router, including the scale and the mobile phone, all of them. Let's keep in mind that technology evolves and the ways that hackers get hold of information evolve as well, which is why most brands send security patches and updates to resolve vulnerabilities or protect their software against any attack.
Having a connected home is undoubtedly very comfortable, turning on the heating or air conditioning before getting home, controlling your exercise with your bracelet and watching it calmly from your mobile phone, or even entering your house with your smartphone as a key with a lock smart, but we must always keep in mind that they generate a security risk and that we must reinforce our network and carry out periodic maintenance so as not to cause any scares.
