SDM Magazine on Smart Home Cybersecurity, Identifying Potential Vulnerabilities, Reducing Hacks
In the article, “Smart Home Cyber Security: What dealers need to know to keep their customers cyber secure,” SDM Magazine offers tips for security integrators to identify vulnerabilities and improve cybersecurity for smart homes.
“Potential cybersecurity vulnerabilities related to smart home equipment fall into three main areas: wireless communications, passwords/user codes, and the security of the customer’s router/broadband modem,” according to the article.
One of the article’s recommendations is that integrators offer password management to help customers track passwords and ensure they are changed on a routine basis. For systems controlled via app on smartphones or PCs, installers can advise customers to create long, complex passwords for improved security to reduce vulnerability concerns.
In a recent blog post, Chuck Davis, Hikvision’s director of cybersecurity offered six tips to improve passwords and reduce hacking threats. In it, he advises that long, strong passwords should include multiple character sets such as uppercase, lowercase, numbers and special characters. Davis added that “the longer the password, the better,” recommending it be eight characters or more.
Home routers can also introduce potential vulnerabilities if software is out of date or if default passwords haven’t been changed, according to the SDM article. In this case, security dealers could offer router monitoring services to notify customers if a vulnerability is identified.
Hikvision’s Davis advises that people reboot all home routers and small office routers, per the FBI’s recent recommendation. In a recent blog on the topic he said, “rebooting will rid the router of a malware called “VPNFilter" which has infected hundreds of thousands of routers across the Internet, and it will help the FBI assess the extent of the infection. When an infected router is rebooted it forces the malware to reload, which initiates an attempted connection to malware command and control (C&C) servers. Since the FBI has taken control over most, if not all of the C&C servers, reloading of the malware will not only rid your router of the infection, it will let the FBI know how many systems are infected.”
Davis also offers tips below to create better passwords that reduce security threats.
Three Steps to Improve Passwords
Hikvision’s cybersecurity director offered these tips and more in the recent post titled “Security magazine outlines examples of password vulnerabilities, security breaches.”
- Create a long, strong password: Develop a strong password, which includes multiple character sets such as uppercase, lowercase, numbers and special characters, and is eight characters or longer.
- Change default passwords: It’s critically important to change default passwords on all devices, and set a complex password.
- Use a password management tool: As you create more complex passwords that differ from site to site, you may find it difficult to remember them. A best practice is to use a “password management tool,” which can help you generate and retrieve complex passwords.
To read the entire SDM magazine article on smart home cybersecurity, click here. For more cybersecurity insights from Hikvision, visit this link.