Cybercrime in the Smart Home: How to protect your home!

Cybercrime in the Smart Home: How to protect your home!

Cybercriminals are increasingly targeting the networked household appliances that are finding their way into more and more German households. According to a recent study, 75 percent of Germans own a smart home device, but many do not know that these devices are often poorly secured and therefore open the door to cyber attackers. This is what an expert in the “Krone” warns, who points out that not only companies, but also private users who access the home network via these devices can become victims of hacker attacks. Be it smart refrigerators or smart speakers – the attacks can also give control of devices such as blinds and heaters.

The dangers of smart home devices

As the Evening newspaper reports, cheap smart home products in particular are at the top of the hacker list. The threat is serious: every smart home device is attacked on average ten times a day. Many users do not notice these attacks because their devices continue to function normally. Risks such as the theft of sensitive data, use as a botnet to carry out DDoS attacks or even blackmail by hackers make the security of these devices an urgent problem. Stiftung Warentest and the cybersecurity monitor make it clear that over 99 percent of successful attacks can be traced back to security gaps that could have been prevented with regular security updates.

However, the security situation could soon change: The Cyber ​​Resilience Act (CRA) passed by the EU Parliament requires manufacturers to close security gaps in the product design. Introducing automatic updates and providing security updates throughout the device lifecycle are essential measures to help make devices more resilient to cyberattacks. Experts also demand that both manufacturers and users take more responsibility for IT security and focus on digital education. This could pave the way for a safer smart home, although the dark side of digital technology cannot simply be ignored - devices can be infected even before they are purchased. These developments highlight the need to ensure conscious and informed use of smart home technologies.