Smart home security: more protection for your smart home
The latest generation of smart technology offers you even more home security and control for your home and everything you hold dear. At the same time, data protection guidelines in the EU and Germany have been significantly improved for the benefit of users.
Clearly, everyone wants to protect their own privacy. This is also true, of course, in the case of a smart home. However, when it comes to smart solutions, the concerns about data privacy are often unfounded. Even if you’re a smart home beginner, you can still increase your home security without having much expertise or risking your personal data. We’ll show you how to maximize your protection when purchasing smart home devices.
Make your home even more secure, in just a few steps. We show you how to ensure security in your smart home and protect your privacy.
When you think of smart home security, probably the first thing you visualize is a surveillance camera. No wonder, then, that this is one of the most popular sectors in the smart home world. However, connected home security systems are not just about security cameras, alarm sirens, smart locks, video doorbells, or corresponding door and window motion sensors to protect against burglars. It’s worth thinking outside the box here. After all, other smart home devices – such as smart baby monitors or smart water sensors in the bathroom and basement – can also give you a positive feeling of security.
Securing your own home and family with smart home devices is essential. However, in our view, the security of the smart home system itself is just as important. After all, you wouldn’t want strangers to have access to your video doorbell, to name just one example. That’s why, later in this article, we’ll be giving you tips on how to further increase the security of your system.
A secure smart home thanks to devices from reputable brands
When buying smart home devices, you can use specific points to orient yourself. One example: it should always be clear what the brand of the product is and whether there is a direct contact person in case of problems. On their websites, reputable brands provide information not only about convenience functions, but also about home security. For example, which encryption is used, or where cloud data is stored. Information about system updates for the products should also be available. In addition, there should be a comprehensible data protection statement.
Separate networks
The set-up of smart home devices is usually simple and intuitive. Integration is usually wire-free and takes place via the home Wi-Fi. Sometimes directly, sometimes via a so-called bridge, provided by the company that made the device. All you need to do is enter your Wi-Fi password and the new devices are already connected to the secure home network.
Depending on how many devices you use, it is advisable to set up a separate network for your smart devices. In other words, separate the smart home network from the home network. The best way to do this is to set up a separate Wi-Fi network for your smart home devices via your router. This also protects your important data on your computer or network storage.
Install device updates
Connecting different smart home devices means more comfort for your home. As already mentioned, it is important that you keep your smart home system technologically up to date – just as you do with your laptop or smartphone. Whether it’s a security system, heating control, smart lighting, motion sensors, or smart plugs, the latest updates for your smart home devices are essential for stable use. If brands issue frequent updates, that signals an effort to constantly improve their devices and fix small bugs. Don’t want to have to think about doing manual updates? No problem – most smart home devices have an automatic update feature or will notify you when a new firmware update is available.
Change standard passwords
In many cases, access to smart home devices is secured by a password. The most important rule: always change default passwords. You will have better home security if the new password is as long as possible and also contains special characters, numerals, and upper- and lowercase letters. A second important rule: don’t use passwords for multiple devices. If the access to the security camera uses password A, then the heating controller should use password B. And password B should also be secure. The reason for this is simple: if a password is compromised, by whatever means, only one area is immediately affected.
So that you don’t have to remember all the passwords, we recommend you use an all-in-one password manager. These are available for computers and smartphones across systems. In addition to protecting the individual smart home devices, an easy-to-implement security strategy for your smart home also includes password-protecting your Wi-Fi router and regularly updating your smartphone.
Smart home apps: protecting your personal data
Usually, the control of many smart home devices runs via a brand’s own app. The more smart products from different brands that you integrate into your home, the more apps will accumulate on your smartphone. To protect your personal data, you can check the respective apps of each brand for their privacy policies. Also see whether these policies are transparent about what data is collected and why. If they’re difficult to understand or unnecessarily complicated, you should be skeptical.
If you are a smart home beginner and feel like you can easily lose track of everything in the smart home world, we can confidently offer you the new Home Connect Plus app as a simple and efficient solution.
Home Connect Plus bundles all your smart devices from different brands into one mobile app – and thus makes your life easier. In the development process of Home Connect Plus, security, data protection, and quality assurance were considered from the very beginning. That’s why the app also operates using the latest security standards. This means that current encryption standards are used to secure the data connection, and personal data is collected very sparingly. You will also find security-relevant settings regarding data protection clearly and transparently presented and not hidden in any subsections. So, you don’t have to worry about your private data anymore. As a smart home user you can enjoy the benefits of this brand-independent smart home app.
Smart insights for your intelligent home
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Device categories
Strong Partners, strong network
The open ecosystem of Home Connect Plus offers the advantage of being able to continuously expand the partner network – regardless of the device category. This means that users can remain flexible in the design of their smart home and can be confident that the devices will work and harmonize perfectly with each other.
