How to Keep Your Smart Home Safe

Smart home appliances are more than a growing trend; they are the way of the future. But installing all these smart devices in your home without considering security can make your home vulnerable to nefarious ne’re-do-wells. If you don’t do your research and take the proper steps to secure these devices, you could be broadcasting all sorts of personal information to the world. Information like your work schedule and kid’s school schedule to personal data and passwords! So how do you make your home smart and safe? Follow these steps, and you’ll get the best of both worlds.

1. Use Private WiFi

Keeping your WiFi open to the public is one of the worst decisions you can make, whether you have smart devices installed or not. Because it’s unprotected, hackers can get on your network and upload malware or viruses onto your devices. Infected smart devices will function poorly and be used to send personal information to hackers. So whether you’re connecting to these devices while in the comfort of your own home or you’re using them while you’re out of the house, make sure to secure your WiFi with a password and ensure your smart devices stay safe.

2. Password Security Management

Strong passwords and proper password management are essential to your smart home safety. First of all, when setting up passwords, you want to make sure you’re going for more of a passphrase. Perhaps think of a line from a song or movie that is easy to remember and change the spelling of a couple of words. Passphrases are more challenging for people to hack. Secondly, you’ll want to make sure you properly manage your passwords. Constantly resetting passwords due to forgetfulness locks you into a loop of password uncertainty. You also don’t want to write them down on your phone or even on a piece of paper. Instead, we recommend a secure online password manager. Many password manager websites and applications offer safety and security for all of your passwords. Some of them are even free. Check out this article to see which one is right for you.

3. Update & Patch your devices regularly

Updates are essential for maintaining device security, whether it’s just for minor bugs or a complete system fix. Running updates and patches to smart home security devices and all types of smart devices and appliances is essential. Updates are crucial not only for device function but also for security and efficiency. These companies that make smart home devices are constantly monitoring and tweaking settings and programming to fortify the device’s security, stability and add new abilities and functionality.

4. Research Brands

We live in the digital age, and there is no excuse for you not to do your research before buying. You’re going to want to compare several different brands and research each of them to make sure they’re reputable and reliable. Check for professional reviews as well as user reviews. You don’t want to pick something simply because it is affordable and then have it fail when you need it most. Make sure you’re getting as much detail as possible about the devices you’re putting into your home. From ease of use to accessibility to functionality. Every aspect of your system is vital to the ultimate goal: protecting your home.

If you’ve been looking into upgrading your house to a smart(er) home, you can always call the professionals at Alarm Solutions Inc. Our team is the best of the best and offers consultation security services, as well as installing and monitoring your system. You never want to compromise on your family’s safety. Alarm Solutions Inc. is your home and business security solution.