Homes and home security are evolving hand in hand, and it is only a matter of time before smart homes become the societal norm. What is a smart home? A smart home is essentially a home in which the major components can be controlled remotely via a smartphone or a computer. In most cases, a smart home has some automated light bulbs, a smart door lock, a smoke detector, and a few other nifty gadgets. It all comes together to increase the efficiency and comfort of every action that you undertake within your home.
The growing popularity of the smart home, along with smart technology and home automation gadgets, has raised some vital questions regarding the state of smart home security and its implications. It goes without saying that the traditional security measures, which are in place to safeguard homes, will have to be tweaked just a bit in order to accommodate the changes in the way homes operate.
Smart Homes are new and revolutionary, but they also present a new wave of flaws and entry points that need to be rectified and protected. In order to maximize the security of a smart home, homeowners need to try and achieve a fine balance between the old and the new, so that they are effectively combating all manners of vulnerabilities that might crop up. With all that being said, let’s dive into the ways homeowners can get the best security out of their smart homes. 
Maximize Your Connectivity
Smart Homes are primarily based on connectivity and communication. That is the reason why so many homeowners are gravitating towards them. They allow people to truly connect to their homes and control them from the palm of their hands. It might sound like something out of the terminator film series, but it is truly fascinating. Imagine a home that allows its parts to communicate with each other and then relay the information to you? Doesn’t it sound like magic?
One of the best ways to get amazing security out of your smart home is to maximize its connectivity capabilities. Essentially, this means that if you have devices in your home that are capable of talking to one another, à la IoT. This allows you to create a network within your home and it helps cast a wider security net over your home. Another thing homeowners can do is to connect their motion sensor camera to an alarm system. Let me break this explanation down a little bit.
If you have a smart lock that allows you to remotely lock and unlock your doors, it would be smart to connect the lock to some of the best security cameras, home security system, lighting unit or thermostat. This allows each device to look out for the other. In the event that someone tries to break into your home through your front door, your smart lock can send a signal to your surveillance camera or security system. This helps with faster notifications and alerts. It helps your home keep track of what is going on, and it also helps notify you in real time of any impending threats.
Perform Regular Maintenance Checks
A smart home is only as strong as its weakest link. It might sound like we’re going to war here, but when it comes to your security you want to make sure that not stone is left unturned. There are many components that can come together to make a smart home. These gadgets range between thermostats, speakers, locks, garage door openers and security sensors. In order to make sure that every aspect of your smart home is working the way it was intended too, you have to perform regular maintenance checks on each and every part.
These checks will give homeowners the opportunity to determine what every gadget is doing. It will also give them a chance to see just how it connects to a network as well as what its capabilities are. This is a necessary thing to do because it helps homeowners physically disable remote network access and other features, which might make your smart home device more vulnerable. Some of these features give your gadget the ability to access the network on its own and this action can sometimes make your home vulnerable to hackers.
Invest In A Firewall
For those of you unfamiliar with the term, I am not referring to a literal wall of fire, although that would be pretty cool. A firewall is an integral part of any network that is meant to bar access to any unauthorized signals or devices that are attempting to communicate with it. This is an important feature to have in your smart home because many of the actions that make it a smart home have to be conducted over a network.
In most cases, homeowners have their smart home gadgets and devices on the same network because this makes the communication between each device much faster. This feature means that if someone is able to gain access to your network, they have access to all of your devices. This is why it is absolutely necessary to invest in a good firewall for your network. If any of your smart home devices is unable to work with a firewall protecting your network, then you should be wary about it. Devices like those are easy to gain access to, so you want to make sure that you do not have that within your smart home.
Secure Your Devices
Now, this step is extremely important even though many homeowners overlook it. Smart home devices are not invincible. On the contrary, if someone is able to gain physical access to them, many will break rather easily. For instance, a burglar might be able to compromise your monitored security system if they get a hold of your control panel. This is why it is important to secure your devices and make sure that they are adequately positioned to prevent anyone from tampering with them.
Hacking into a smart device is not the only way to compromise one. In fact, it might be easier to compromise a connected device if you have physical access to it. There are many homeowners who install devices for their smart homes and do not attempt to conceal the device or place it in an enclosure that might be hard to get too. It might be hard to secure a device like a smart lock, but in lieu of this homeowners should make sure that the perimeter of their home is highly secure. This will make it increasingly hard for burglars to gain access to your devices, and thus minimize their chances of compromising the security of your smart home.
Conclusion
As was mentioned earlier, smart homes are constantly evolving, and so is their security. There are many things that can change about it within the next few months, and there is only room for it to grow. The possibilities for the smart home and its accompanying security are truly endless, but in the meantime I hope that the points listed above will help homeowners get the best out of their smart home security.
