These days, it\u2019s possible to use your phone \u2014 and sometimes just your voice \u2014 to control everything from your TV to your lights, your thermostat and shades, even your car or medical device. (At least, once you have gadgets that can listen.)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But the WikiLeaks allegation that the CIA commandeered some Samsung smart TVs as listening devices is a reminder that inviting the \u201cInternet of Things\u201d into your home comes with some risk.<\/p>\n
How safe are your connected devices? Tread carefully, but don\u2019t freak out, experts say.<\/p>\n
A GROWING INDUSTRY<\/p>\n
Connected devices are unquestionably popular. Research firm Gartner expects there to be 8.4 billion connected \u201cthings\u201d in use in 2017, up 31 percent from 2016. By 2020, this number could reach 20.4 billion, with smart TVs and digital set-top boxes serving as the most popular consumer gadgets.<\/p>\n
For businesses, meanwhile, smart electric meters and commercial security cameras are expected to be the most popular \u201cinternet of things\u201d products.<\/p>\n
Such gadgets are convenient, but they can present easy targets for hackers. In October of 2016 hackers seized control of webcams and digital video recorders and recruited them into internet \u201cbotnets\u201d that launched denial-of-service attacks against popular websites such as Netflix and Twitter, forcing them offline for some users.<\/p>\n
LIMITED GOVERNMENT<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a growing call for regulation to secure connected devices, but it\u2019s unclear whether this will happen. Last year, the Department of Homeland Security released a report describing runaway security problems with devices that recently gained internet capabilities, a collection that includes medical implants, surveillance cameras, home appliances and baby monitors.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe growing dependency on network-connected technologies is outpacing the means to secure them,\u201d Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said at the time. This, of course, was during the Obama administration; more regulation so far appears unlikely under President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n
Forrester Research analyst Josh Zelonis said consumers can\u2019t wait for the government to fix things. Instead, he said, people have to demand that manufacturers are accountable for the security of their products and that they support the products throughout the product\u2019s lifetime, not just when it\u2019s sold.<\/p>\n
Which, of course, is far easier said than done.<\/p>\n
BRAND APPEAL<\/p>\n
One problem: Many people don\u2019t realize they have to secure connected devices with passwords like they do with computers. \u201cPeople don\u2019t think of a TV or a camera as a computer and that\u2019s all it is,\u201d said Gartner analyst Avivah Litan.<\/p>\n
If a device comes with a default password, it needs changing the moment you hook it up. Similarly, your Wi-Fi password shouldn\u2019t still be the one it came out of the box; it needs a hard-to-guess passphrase to ensure that it can\u2019t be easily hacked.<\/p>\n
Another problem: Cheaper devices from no-name companies also pose more of a security risk. While big companies like Apple, Amazon or Samsung can patch up security holes as soon as they find them, smaller companies don\u2019t have the resources \u2014 or, sometimes, the ability or willingness \u2014 to do so.<\/p>\n
\u201cBigger companies typically have more resources and more to lose, so they are typically more secure,\u201d said Patrick Moorhead, analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy.<\/p>\n
Password-protecting most connected devices, though, should go a long way toward ensuring they won\u2019t be used to take down Netflix.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t buy from smaller vendors,\u201d Moorhead said. \u201cDon\u2019t buy devices that don\u2019t encrypt data everywhere.\u201d And change the password if you can.<\/p>\n
MEASURED CAUTION<\/p>\n
Sydnee Thompson, a 24-year-old from Troy, Michigan, is cautious but ultimately sanguine about her connected devices. She has an internet-connected TV, but she\u2019s been reluctant to get a \u201csmart\u201d device like Amazon\u2019s Echo home assistant because of worries that it would always be listening \u2014 and that others might also.<\/p>\n
But Thompson uses a smartphone and already assumes that if the government wants to track her, it can. \u201cIf the government wants to find out something about you, they will,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s just the world we live in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cameron Matz from Stafford, Virginia, said he has several smart TVs and plans to keep using them. \u201cWe can\u2019t be afraid to live our life because some person out in the world is listening in on your conversation about daily activities.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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