Sure to strike a nerve with parents of young children is the prospect of a baby monitor being hacked. Modern baby monitors allow parents to check on their kids from their smartphone, but they also open the possibility for a hacker to do the same, even talk to their victims using two-way audio.
These examples highlight two areas of concern that must be addressed: First, what data smart device manufacturers collect, what they use the data for and how they keep it safe; second, how an attacker can take that data and use it against us.
While stories of device hacks might make us think twice, the good news is that both consumers and industry players are learning from them. Weaknesses that used to exist in devices have been fixed, and privacy safeguards have increased in response to growing public concern.
Our security cannot be assured only by a game of cat and mouse, however. More must be done to enshrine best practices into device development, govern how data can be used and increase awareness among consumers.
NEW TECHNOLOGY AND REGULATION FOR BETTER CYBERSECURITY
There are several ways in which this is being done. Within the industry, we see improvements to security technologies, for example Wi-Fi Protected Access 3 (WPA3), the latest protection standard for Wi-Fi.
WPA3 makes it harder for devices on the same home network to spy on each other’s wireless traffic. With a greater number of Wi-Fi-enabled smart devices in our homes, such technology makes it harder for smart devices to access your online activity. Upgrading to WPA3 isn’t always straightforward, however, as many devices still don’t support it.