Keeping Your Smart Home Devices Secure

- Begin with finding out if your email address(es) has been affected by a breach. Go to Have I Been Pwned and enter your email.  If your email has been compromised, it will share the data/app breaches it was involved in, and it would be best to change your email password. 

- When you create a new account for any device, use a different password for every account, even if you’re using the same email. Many people use the same email/password combination for everything, and there lies the problem of their information being available on the dark web, and having their accounts hacked into easily. 

- If you have smart speakers, turning off voice commands, voice purchases, microphone, and camera are simply a matter of going into the device’s settings and change them.  

- Your Wi-Fi router comes with a factory default name and password. It would be a good idea to change those before anyone connects to the router. Use a unique name for your home’s Wi-Fi, and a strong password. Both settings can be changed, and directions are normally in the instruction booklets or ask the internet installer how you can do this. 

- When a vulnerability is discovered in any device, the company normally updates the firmware. Be sure your smart devices’ automatic updates are “checked” in the settings. 
 

- New products from new companies are great, but sometimes, it’s best to wait for a reputable, established company to produce a similar product. Those companies have a reputation to uphold and will be more likely to make certain their products are as safe as they can be. 

- This might seem obvious but give your home’s Wi-Fi password only to people you know and trust completely.