Discuss IoT Devices: Convenience Vs. Security - Win a Gift Card!

I have only one IoT device at home: it is a food processor that weighs, chops, mixes, kneads, cooks. Download recipes from the internet and give the best tips for tasty dishes. All that is needed is for him to choose the ingredients from the refrigerator himself and sit down at the table with us for lunch. Maybe the next generation of hearing aids will…

Alexa… and the automation it provides throughout my home, is fantastic, but also scary as well, considering that Amazon can shut your account down for whatever reason, and you then end up with a pile of useless hardware under that account you used. Like Siri, and any other voice activated device, there are always going to be security and privacy concerns, but that’s what you are accepting as you become involved in this tech route to control! Am I worried about it? Nah… at my age, if they want to listen into moans, creaking and cracking of my bones and general moaning about the world, then that’s fine by me, as at least I know someone is listening to my nonsense! :)

Alexa is very helpful, tv, sound system ,refrigerator and light system

If you thought that smart flip flops might be linked to your smartphone to track your steps, you would be sorely mistaken. This is surely not only the dumbest, but also the dumbest people that will be mislead to purchase these. 

Then there are cloud pets…. Kids really are simple. If given nothing else they’ll happily play in mud for hours. So why does their new teddy bear need to be connected to the net?? And just wait until recordings of your kids conversations get leaked… oh wait, they already have.

As for the rest, I do not have any IoT devices in my home. :-) 

We do have an Amazon Dot that my wife won as a prize at her work but after the initial novelty of playing with it we didnt find for us it was of any benefit plus our daughter was about 4 at the time and therefore she just constantly talking to it and that got risky. Turned it off and havent used it since. Certainly wouldn't have bought one ourselves.

Currently cant think of an IOT that we would justify the cost or security risk of to use ourselves.

However, I understand for some they could be useful. My Brother has installed a large amount of smart devices around my mum’s home to assist her as she has limited mobility. Alexas everywhere connected to the ring doorbell, connected to the kettle to turn it on, lights, tv. It does save her alot of getting up and down and walking which she finds hard. However I worry about the security but she doesnt have much of an online profile herself as me or my brother do all her online shopping and my brother manages her online banking so none of that is on her local network of her house.

I think Google have got it right with their Home Assistant devices, I’ve scattered a whole load of them around the house (Home, Nest Audio, Mini, Hub etc) and I used some network sniffing/analyser tools and nothing strange or worrying going through. Sure Google can listen to everything I’m saying and have made a profile on me ready to send me to jail but hey… at least it’s not some evil genius in a bunker planning a heist… or is it.

I also had a Smart LED strip controller I bought off Amazon, had it’s own (very homemade) app and basically never worked properly. The traffic it was sending/receiving was very dodgy for a LED controller, reaching out the far east, central Africa and even Russia. I thought maybe it was CDN’s but nope. That part of IoT worries me, harmless on the outside but dangerous on the inside and even more so if UPnP is involved...

I can control my home's lighting and temperature with a simple voice command or through an app on your phone. I can create customized schedules for your lights and thermostats, ensuring that my home is comfortable and energy-efficient at all times

We found Amazon Echo Shows on sale a few years back and got one for us and the Grandparents for Christmas. Makes calling the grandparents and vice versa a lot easier.

Also Alexa tells the kids when it’s time to get ready for bed. So that’s helpful, too!

Maybe I am weird, but I don’t seem to use IoT. I got given an Echo Dot and it lasted about a month before it went back in the box. Just never utilised.

I just keep all of the devices segmented off in their own VLAN with a PiHole blocking their calls home, have some custom rules so only some devices can talk to each other.

Almost my entire house is being controlled by sensors, voice commands and things like that. If it were up to me everything would be connected! Unfortunatly my wife thinks otherwise

From a convenience standpoint, I love IoT devices for the most part.  Being able to use my voice or phone to turn things on or off, receiving alerts about doors being left open, alerts about people on my front porch, etc.

From a security standpoint, I hate IoT devices because I do not feel like I ever have enough control over the devices and the data they collect/share.

I have a dedicated VLAN on my home network for IoT devices, which is completely incapable of talking to my other devices.  I simply do not trust the devices to be properly secured.  On top of that, I have PiHole blocking as much of their calls as possible without breaking the functionality of the device.

This actually sounds pretty good

Yeah I converted my dad from using Ring Doorbell because it’s owned by amazon and they WILL/HAVE already just given your recordings over to authorities for any reason - even without a warrant first. Which I feel is downright dystopian.

All of my smart doorbells and cameras around the property are encrypted local storage only. I just don’t trust that level of my own personal security with anyone but myself and tech knowhow. 

I would also never do one of those smart locks. That seems like the easiest way to get robbed, but maybe that’s just me

I remember this!

Yeah if I had to pick a big tech company to trust it would be google, but I’m not sure any of them can be trusted as time goes on. We only share more and more info and access and the landscape only gets worse and worse. You can’t really engage in the tech world without picking one though. ITS TOUGH!

This guy knows his stuff ;)

Great Responses everyone!

I think the general consensus is that most of us tech savvy do limit the amount we allow in the house and scrutinize it thoroughly. However, the older population seems to benefit from it greatly when mobility takes a dive. I wonder how this will change over the years - what crazy sh!t are we going to see?

Here are this prompts winners!

@russell.harris 

@seishiro and @kdudley basically had the same response and darn it, I believe them both - both winners!

Will send gift cards through DMs later today

Cheers @TylerM 👍🏻

Awesome! Thank you @TylerM