Inside consumer perceptions of security and
privacy in the connected home
The ESET Survey polled 4.000 people to get a sense
of their attitudes towards the privacy and security implications of smart home
technology
When
most people think of home security, locks, alarms and big dogs come to mind.
Substitute security with privacy, and images of curtains and blinds, or
unlisted phone numbers spring to mind. While those are all (still) valid, over
the last decade of digitalization, we have seen “the home” – long regarded as a
refuge for privacy and safety – transformed into a battleground over what is
private and secure. To recognize these shifts, ESET decided to focus on the
“Protect IT” component during the 16th annual National Cybersecurity Awareness
Month and, together with the National Cyber
Security Alliance (NCSA), carried out a survey to uncover where people in the
United States and Canada stand with the main themes connected to protection.
In
the time it took for modems to give way to routers, and routers to then
broadcast Wi-Fi, our identities as residents and as digital citizens have moved
considerably closer together. And now, as IoT and the wider explosion in
numbers of smart devices and attached services that have followed enter homes
en masse, another reimagining of home, privacy and security unfolds.
So,
how do North Americans see their “homes” and what makes them safe and secure?
If that answer doesn’t involve digital, then trouble could be ahead. Take a
quick look at our recent poll results to get a picture of the digital home in
the popular imagination.
Home entertainment
Ditching
VHS and DVDs for streaming has enabled us to binge watch more effectively than
ever before. In our poll of 4,000 respondents (2,000 Americans and 4,000 Canadians),
25% streamed via Apple TV or Roku, 17.9% on a connected (smart) TV, and 23% via
their mobile device, with PC users adding in another 16.7%. But amidst all the
juicy content, is there space for viewers to think about security?
We
asked whether respondents were concerned that connected TVs could be targeted
by cybercriminals – allowing them to remotely access or control the TV from the
internet? The results were stark. Roughly 21% had concerns, while 41.6% didn’t
worry about it despite the fact that there are valid concerns about connected
TVs being targeted by cybercriminals. For example, TVs can
fall prey to ransomware and
coinminers like ADB.Miner which
hijacked the computing power of thousands of Android devices.
Devices don’t judge
While
some of us successfully segregate our business and personal devices, ultimately
it is their polyfunctionality that makes all of them useful for so many tasks.
In either case, when using either business or personal devices at home, most of
us leverage our home network that traces to the router. But have you ever
wondered if it is safe and private?
Only
40% in the survey changed their default router credentials during the initial
setup at home. When default usernames and passwords for routers are one-click
away from discovery with a Google search, these are open networks ripe for easy
plunder. Guarding the heart of your home network – your router – is an
indispensable step before even thinking about the security settings of each
connected IoT device.
Many
may not even realize that their home
router may be providing a separate public Wi-Fi network for
their ISP’s travelling customers. Around 37% of respondents in the survey
certainly didn’t know. So, it’s like we said, devices don’t judge. It’s up to
you, the home user, to think about listing off all your connected devices at
home and what you can do to keep safe, starting
from the router up.
With
your router central to the connected home you are building, whether accidentally
or not, you are also likely adding new technologies and risks to the sanctuary
of your home. Along with your very powerful mobile computer aka smartphone, you
may have wanted to try out a few, more recently introduced devices?
Enter
smart thermostats, smart speakers and… home assistants. While these items began
marching into homes as early as 2007, with the Ecobee smart thermostat,
concerns and competitors were not far behind. However, until the introduction
of home assistants, like Alexa, which can communicate with multiple smart home
devices, impacts were mostly theoretical. The conversation has
now become much more realistic as many cases of devices giving away location
data, listening and recording, or taking actions without consent have been documented.
Among
users of these devices, concern seemed muted as only around 30% of both our
U.S. and Canadian respondents felt affected by these issues, almost equal with
26% of U.S. respondents who claimed they were unconcerned. Canadians
unconcerned with these issues amounted to approximately 21%, with 43% reporting
that they do not own these device types.
While
device makers still have work cut out for them to get assistants in homes and
“speaking with’” other smart home devices, the main issue for people holding out
doesn’t seem to be insecurity.
Returning
to the router as ground zero, the adventurous among you who
have been considering smartening up your home, might want to revisit those
passwords. A great second step is auditing the number and type of connected devices
you have in your home. Polled respondents in Canada who reported having “no
connected devices” numbered 18.5 %, with their neighbors in the US posting
20.3%. A big jump among those with 1-5 devices occurs among both Canadians and
Americans with 44 – 45% falling in this range. The numbers of power users are
also similar, with Canadians holding 15-plus devices coming in at 8.5% and
those in the US with 7.8%.
While
the similarities in tech deployment may surprise some, what stood out is the
shared number on both sides of the northern border who claimed that they “could
name all the devices” in their caddies, with 42.4%!
Well,
it’s a brave new world, people. And for a last peek at our survey: Have you
ever purchased a device with connected features that you did not connect to the
internet? If so, why? Well, 5.1% of Americans and 7.5% of Canadians just didn’t
have time to set up connectivity, that’s my case too – I tell myself I am safer
that way. Some 17% on average in both groups “didn’t care about the features” …
probably a better answer than telling yourself you’re safer.