For every homeowner, smart home automation is a means of making their life more comfortable. It is meant to provide them with convenience and security, removing any extra manual effort from their lives. However, when everything is automated, your home becomes vulnerable to certain threats. A smart home connects you to your devices through the internet and your smartphone. This means that someone who is skilled enough can access the system and have control over your home, provided you aren’t careful enough when securing it.

A smart home consists of a lot of gadgets that ensure your home’s safety as long as they are in your control, such as a Garage Door Opener. Any outsider getting access to these devices can prove to be very harmful. The following are some ways through which you can make sure that your smart home is safe from any such influence.

Buy Secure Devices

In every device that you buy for your home, it is important to know exactly what type of security is offers. Cheaper devices may lack this feature, but there are certain transmission protocols that each device needs to follow in order to be considered secure. The highest level of encryption for your router, WPA2, should be supported by your device. Your home router is the device most likely to be targeted by hackers, since it can easily provide access to the rest of your home. This is why ensuring maximum security for it would mean a safer home.

Never Use an Open Wi-Fi Network

Internet troubles can be extremely frustrating, especially when you’re doing something important online. In this case, seeing an open Wi-Fi network available for use can become very tempting; however, opting to use such a network is a huge risk. Through this network, you could potentially be giving a hacker direct access to your home. Your valuable information can be taken from you and your home becomes much less safe. This is why it is important to only connect to networks you can fully trust.

Create a Separate Network for IoT Devices

If you’d like to add an extra layer of security to your smart home, a good idea would be to create a different network for your smart gadgets. This way, your regular network is separate from the one which monitors your home. Furthermore, checking the privacy settings on your devices can also be helpful, since the default settings are not always the safest.

Your Smartphone Should be Secure

When you have a smart home, almost all of your gadgets are linked directly to your smartphone. Every smart gadget has a corresponding app that you can install in your phone, which then allows you to monitor and control all the smart appliances you own. This is why it is essential that your phone is always protected as best as it can, so no one can have access to your home but you. A smartphone can allow hackers to see into your home, control it, and access any personal information that you may have. Your house can become vulnerable to any external threats, which is why keeping valuable information hidden and password-protecting your phone is necessary.

Change Router Name

One of the ways a hacker can reach you is by detecting you in a list of available networks in a certain area. Often, when you purchase and install a new router, it will have the name of either your provider, the type of device it is, or your own name. In all of these instances, any potential hackers could get enough information that they would be able to target you. This is why, it is important to change the router’s name when you get it. Do not start using it until there are no traces of personal information anywhere in the name, so that your identity can remain hidden to anyone in the near vicinity. It is best if this name is completely random and unassociated with you.

Strong Passwords

Anyone who has ever spent time online understands the importance of passwords. Your password needs to be strong enough that no one is able to guess it, since it can grant them access to all of your personal information. Whether it’s your phone, your router or your Wi-Fi network, passwords are the one thing standing between them and the hacker. Make sure you check the requirements for a strong password, and then set yours accordingly. Strong passwords often require a combination of letters, numbers and certain special characters.

Use Multi-Factor Authentication

This is one of the best ways to ensure that even if something is to go wrong with your network, you will be notified immediately. Two-factor authentication is a fool-proof way to ensure that you will find out if anyone is trying to get access to your system through an immediate notification, which can put your mind at ease when operating your smart home.

Conclusion

While a smart home will make your life much easier, this is only possible if you have complete control over it. Since your home is a place where you are meant to be most comfortable, losing your control over it can have dire consequences. Gadgets such as security cameras and motion sensors prevent any suspicious activity from occurring anywhere within and around your home, and if they are compromised, you will no longer feel safe within your own home. This is why it is extremely important to make sure that your smart devices cannot be influence by any such external sources.