The Internet of Things (IoT) can be seen everywhere in the market now. Due to technological innovation over the past few years, a lot of these devices are also used at home and at office spaces.
Things and gadgets are more connected to one another. Undeniably, it has provided so much ease and efficiency in most of our daily lives.
Some of us have Amazon's Alexa and Google's Assistant always in listening mode to cater to our needs. They remind us of our schedule and the weather of the day and keep us in check on our to-do list.
IoT's connectivity extends more than that. However, the more things are interconnected to one another, that also puts them in a vulnerable state of being used by malicious actors. With that, here are four easy and doable steps you can take to protect your IoT devices from cyberattacks.
Use Strong Password
One way to protect your IoT devices at home or any technology you are wearing in and outside of your house, will have a stronger chance of being safe by having a strong password.
Some tech devices that are bought right off the market have a default password in place. A lot of people are not tech savvy enough to bother changing the password in place to a new, customized, and stronger password.
To some, creating a password that they can easily remember is a priority. Most of the easiest types of passwords include using your birthday, the birthday of your parents, your family name, or what calendar year it is.
Choosing not to change your default password and using a very weak password will make your IoT devices susceptible to malicious activities such as stealing your personal data, phishing, and ransomware.
It is highly recommended that you change your default password and use a strong password to protect IoT devices from cyberattacks.
Use Multi-Factor Authentication
Using multi-factor authentication is also another way to protect IoT devices from cyberattacks.
This requires an extra step when it comes to logging in to your accounts, but this one would definitely pay off, especially when facing a possible hack.
Anybody can use multi-factor authentication. This is a feature that you can enable in the settings of your account. Usually, this is a code sent to you by your software provider.
For example, if you want to access your Twitter account using the smart refrigerator you have in your kitchen, if you enable multi-factor authentication, Twitter will send you a code on your mobile device or email address before opening your account.
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Use Strong Wi-Fi Encryption
Next, you can never go wrong with having a strong Wi-Fi encryption. In connection to the advice on using strong passwords, making sure that your Wi-Fi connectivity has a strong password is also a way to protect IoT devices from cyberattacks.
In some advanced cyberattacks, malicious threat groups can acquire a lot of your personal data, as well as banking details that are saved on your devices, if they access your Wi-Fi password.
Wi-Fi routers come into your house with a default password. Again, as mentioned, it is just as highly recommended to not use the names of your pets, birthdates, names of family members, or your full name. It is highly advisable to change this and create a new one to prevent cyberattacks.
Furthermore, according to Revolutionized, "it's good practice to set your router to the strongest encryption type you have available." "On most routers, this will be WPA2."
Regularly Update Softwares From Vulnerabilities
Lastly, updating the software of your devices will also be another way to protect IoT devices from cyberattacks. Software is prone to having vulnerabilities that can only be fixed on the back end.
That fix usually comes from the developers and vendors. These vulnerabilities are tricky; sometimes they are not serious, sometimes they are critical, and there are also cases where hackers have already been using them to hack the systems of others.
Since it can only be fixed by the software vendors, they usually release an update or patch to correct the bug in their system and prevent cyberattacks from your system.
Aside from the developers rolling out new features and enhancements in that update, they also send out security patches to protect your IoT devices from cyberattacks.
