As more people adopt the smart home products, lives are becoming extraordinarily simple. Along with that, it is also helping people to take care of well being and security of their family. No doubt, smart homes have made our life a lot easier, and they save our time especially after we come back from a hard day’s work. However, there is also a hidden price that a lot of us may not realize.
Technology is wonderful, but at the same time, it also opens the doors for different kinds of cybercrime such as hacking. This is one constant threat that surrounds the well-being of all houses, since smart home products require the use of internet to function.
A blind eye to the known fact
Unaware of the side effects that are hidden deep within, people are moving towards smart home gadgets. We all know that various hacking communities across the world not only use the internet for their purposes but also have the ability to gain control over practically everything. The virtual world, which is different from the physical world, is dark with unknown twist and turns. An attack that can happen at any time without our knowledge.
The depth of the situation if still unseen
What makes it more challenging is that people do not understand the grievance and depth of the situation, which can result due to too many home-automated products in a house. It is easy to tackle a criminal that is known to you, but when it is an unknown person living far away, we have no idea what he can do to our loved ones. Repeatedly we have heard various heartbreaking incidences and crimes that have been committed due to an unknown person from the virtual world.
We are unintentionally putting our loved ones at risk
As much as these products come with many benefits, the security concerns do come along. The lack of security and proper measures in place gift hackers the upper hand to enter into the systems of our homes in a very silent manner, and do what they like. Somewhere or the other we are actually inviting them unintentionally to break in into our home systems, and to put our loved ones at risk.
Companies need to come up with lucrative security measures
It is good that companies are taking the initiative to cater to the demands and needs of the customers to the best of their ability. Nevertheless, what is also more important is that along with providing the benefits, they also need to come up with lucrative security measures, which can protect the consumers from harm’s way.
Safety and security is the most important department. It must be given top priority and attention, considering how easy it is for a hacker to breach into a network and attack it. Even if you look down in history, the best security defense systems in the world have become a target, at one point or the other, which led to devastating results. One live example- the 15 year old who hacked NASA’s network and computers. Just think that a child of merely 15 years old could hack into the best defense system that is known today. This on its own speak a lot about how vulnerable a common man is when it comes to such kinds of crimes.
So how can we tackle this problem?
Considering that you have the ability to spy on your children when you are not at home, the same can also happen to you. The privacy of a person is indeed completely at stake. On the micro level, consumers can do whatever it takes to protect themselves like changing passwords, keeping different networks for their smart homes etc.
However, considering how intelligent hackers are, the problem has to be tackled from a macro level and not just the micro one. Companies not only have to design products that are effective, but the design and concept should emphasis more on the security instead of the outer appeal. Along with that, certain laws should also be kept in place to ensure the safety of every consumer in the most effective and efficient manner.
