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Earl Foote (CEO) and Travis Gunn (VP of Business Relations) sit down with Park City TV and talk more in-depth about smart devices and how the world is starting to see them everywhere.
Earl Foote, CEO, and Travis Gunn, VP of Business Relations at Nexus IT, had the opportunity to speak on Park City TV about smart devices. They discussed how they could help us in our homes and the security and privacy issues that come with them. Watch the complete video or check out some of the highlights below and what they had to say:
These smart devices, we call IoT or Internet of Things connected appliances such as picture frames, televisions, refrigerators, and digital assistants like cameras and thermostats are connected devices.
The standard consumer doesn’t oftentimes understand that those things can pose a risk to them. They can also get hacked if you’re not doing the right things to protect yourself and your home from that, and you do have to be cognizant of some of the potential risks.
Many of these smart device services nowadays allow you to set them up without a password. But you know, you have to “password protect” these things. Just don’t use the same username and passwords that you use for your banking.
Earl Foote: In the news, it was reported external ring cameras that are only meant for external use, some people were using them inside the house. Also, some families were using them as kids or baby monitors in their child’s bedroom. They later discovered those cameras got hacked and strange people were speaking to their children, which is a horrifying experience for any child or parent.
The first thing you want to do when you take one of those smart devices out of the box is to make sure that you update it to the latest firmware software. Generally, those devices have some vulnerabilities that were found in previous versions of the software. So you want to get the latest firmware software on that device.
Commonly, smart devices come out of the box without a password or with a simple default password like “admin” or “password.” You want to make sure you change that password right away. As you run through the setup wizard, you’ll be prompted to do that. If not, you need to get into the device and change the password because it was set to the default and easy for somebody to hack.
It’s also worthwhile to mention what devices do you want to have connected to your home? Do your research. Find out what are the potential risks. First and foremost, always determine what you want and understand what the potential risks might be.
Earl Foote: Another tip is routers or firewalls that you generally put in your home that give you internet access. The standard consumer doesn’t know how to secure those properly to keep the traffic from those internal devices invisible and not getting hacked. If you’re having any doubts about the equipment, contact a professional to lock down that router or firewall, or request they provide a higher grade of equipment.
How can anyone who has or is interested in getting a smart device get help from you?
Reach out to Nexus IT at 435-487-9099 or click here to find out more about what we can do for you.