Effective burglar protection is already not very easy to accomplish in the analog world. With the advent of intelligent home systems that are linked to the Internet, safety issues are increasingly transferred to the virtual world as well. Smart homes must be protected from thieves – the tools for this are access limitations, firewalls, and warning systems.
Users of smart home solutions should be aware that basically any online system is prone to attacks from cyber ciminals via all-round Internet scans. The easier the remote access to the home system, the greater the danger of a break-in and data abuse.
Some users may ask “But why would anyone be interested in my data?” Upon closer inspection, however, anyone will quickly discover sensitive documents in their possession. This applies in principle to every private device with Internet access. Yet intelligent home systems pose even greater dangers – hackers may remotely open doors or interpret the heating system data to discover that no one is home, making the house easy prey to burglars. You can even turn lighting on and off and close the blinds.
Of course, the safest solution for home systems would be not to connect them to the Internet, but this would also prevent the use of their many practical functions. Therefore, since an online connection is necessary but must be well protected, what should be observed?
Safety for Home Systems
The most important safety measure is possibly a strict identification and authentication system to control external access. This allows only authorized access while immediately blocking unauthorized access. As, generally speaking, every system can be hacked eventually with more or less effort, the home network must also be protected from the inside. This should not involve an open port for online access to the local home network. Instead, it is recommended to use a secure VPN point-to-point tunnel connection to prevent unauthorized access. This ensures certificate-based safe communication.
Ready for Failure
The introduction of redundancy is also important, as any system may fail at one time or another. If, for example, the control commands are stored on a cloud server and the online connection is disrupted due to roadwork, the intelligent home stops functioning. On the other hand, if the data is stored on the smart home system itself, the same happens in case of a short circuit and failure of the associated fuse. This is why the system’s intelligence must be stored redundantly at several locations, on the concerned device, the gateway server of the home network, and on the cloud of the respective provider.
Of course, only trustworthy providers and highly secure data centers should be selected for this purpose. This way, the new intelligent home system can be truly used securely.