I had visions of writing an upbeat “end-of-year” post. People seem to be finding their new equilibrium even as COVID continues to throw curves (even Omicron is proving to be not as fearsome as first thought). Numerous market reports and studies show strong interest in maintaining telehealth, telework, and other broadband-enabled opportunities that exploded in the past 18 months. Ag tech is becoming part of mainstream conversation. Congress has appropriated once-in-a-lifetime support for broadband. Universal service contributions reform is getting some legs. And then I read that Canadian car thieves are using Apple AirTags to steal cars.
The strategy is deceptively simple: See a nice car. Hang a $29 AirTag in an inconspicuous place (a wheel well, beneath a bumper). Wait until everyone is asleep. Track the car to its quiet residential driveway. Take car. Brilliantly avoid pesky witnesses. The outcome seems a blend of, “This is why we cannot have nice things” and “For every convenience there is an inconvenient downside.” I don’t propose that AirTags cause car theft, only that they can make it a little less risky.
A primary aim of technology is to make our lives easier and more efficient. That’s why we throw clothes into a washing machine, rather than dragging them down to the river with a washboard. But the increasing incorporation of IoT, which turns common appliances “to 11,” implicates risks. Fortunately, many can be solved with simple diligence, vigilance, and cyber hygiene.
Let’s take smart doorbells as an examples. In just two years between 2014 and 2016, sales of Ring devices rocketed from 20,000 units to one million units. Two years later, Amazon purchased Ring for $1 billion. Market penetration for these devices is expected to increase 27% in 2022. And if Ring is becoming the Kleenex or Band-Aid of the smart doorbell industry (where a trade name substitutes for product type), it bears mentioning other major players, including such market veterans as Honeywell, Aiphone, Samsung, and ADT who are knee deep in the field.
But like smart TVs, which were highlighted by Federal law enforcement a few Black Fridays ago as soft underbellies of home network security, smart doorbells can be risky. An initial layer of concern is data privacy and how the user’s information is safeguarded. A second layer is whether the device provides an unintended gateway to the owner’s WiFi network and, by extension, access to sensitive data such as account logins and passwords that are regularly entered on that network. These potential entry points, however, Simple passwords and unencrypted WiFi can render these devices weak gateways to the user’s home network and then, with a modicum of effort, other devices on that network. Seemingly simple steps, however, can reduce those risks. Changing default passwords and protecting accounts with multifactor verification are first steps. Deleting old footage is a second step. The usefulness of six months accumulated data is questionable, unless there is an interest in creating a profile that reveals the typical hours of a day when your house is empty and unoccupied.
And it is not only smart doorbells and TVs. The average U.S. household has 25 connected devices including voice-assistants, thermostats, smart lights, and appliances. It is convenient and enticing to use a single log-in and password across all of those platforms. But if one is compromised, the rest of the dominoes will fall. Security experts recommend combining a random password generator with a password manager.
And for even more protection, take advantage of routers that enable the creation of a secondary “guest” network. This enables users to confine sensitive applications to the primary network and to shuttle others to the guest network.
Finally, vigilance. If a device allows for automatic updating and patches, take advantage of it. If not, then a periodic review of the device or app for updates or patches is recommended.
So, an upbeat comment for the end of the year? Old adages like “An ounce of prevention . . .” are still true. Simple steps can offer substantial protection.
