Security Market Trends: Protecting Your Home From Cyber Security Criminals

With smart devices and smart homes becoming more prevalent, it gives the homeowner a lot more freedom and accessibility. However, with that freedom and accessibility comes risk. Here’s how to protect your home from cyber security criminals.

Convenience

While home automation has grown to be a necessity for some peoples’ lives, it has opened the door for cyber criminals. With your smart assistant (Google, Alexa, etc) having access to your personal data and being connected to the internet, it has created a huge security risk. While it may be up to the security dealer to keep you safe, there are new cyber threats surfacing every day.

Wireless Risks

With your lights, cameras, doorbell, and locks all being controllable through apps or Bluetooth, hackers could potentially gain access to these things and use them to further dive into your digital life by gaining access to something of greater importance. This could be banking info, passwords, figuring out your schedules, and other valuable private information that could lead to a stolen identity.

Prevention

So, what can you do? It’s always better to be proactive instead of reactive. Here are some things that can be done to maintain better cybersecurity practices and lower your risk for a cyber attack.

Two-Factor Authentication

Multi-factor authentication protects you and your accounts, which are the basis for most cyberattacks. However, most websites and services offer either two-factor authentication or multi-factor authentication. While it’s a slight inconvenience to the user (every time you log in to your account from somewhere new, you will be asked to verify through email, phone, or social media) your likelihood of being hacked significantly drops. While it is possible for a hacker to guess one password, the more steps you have to sign into your accounts, the less likely they are to actually succeed.

Encrypt Your Network

Passwords are no longer the best security. They’re still a good first line of defense, but if your network isn’t encrypted, then a password alone is going to be nothing more than a speed bump for potential hackers. Make sure that you––or your integrator––is equipping your Wi-Fi to handle a high level of security.

Continually Update Your Systems

Updates can fix flaws in your system networks. As companies continually evolve, you need to stay on top of keeping up with them. If you get left in the dust, you will be seemingly leaving holes in your security system and letting the vulnerabilities of the system overwhelm it.

Use A Security Suite

Plenty of great security suites exist that prevents you from accidentally downloading malware or viruses. The best thing you can do is stay away from shady websites and only visit protected sites that you can trust. The next best (and much more realistic) solution is to download something that can help guard against harmful files and websites that you might come across.

Use a VPN

Virtual Private Networks, or VPNs for short, help encrypt all web data. This adds an extra layer of privacy and data protection as you are surfing the web. It’s always good to have one of these ready to go when you are using a public network such as any guest Wi-Fi networks, coffee shops, hotels, airports, etc.

Hopefully, these steps have already been implemented in your lifestyle. If not, it’s always better to be overly cautious and get a jump start on protecting your home, family, or business. Remember, it’s not a matter of “if,” it’s a matter of “when.”

The best security is always something (or someone) you can trust. Here at Avantguard, you are our number one priority. Reach out to find out more and keep up with our blog and learn how to stay safe in this constantly changing industry.