Have you ever turned the car around just to make sure you turned off your oven or unplugged your iron? That same anxious instinct contrasts with the whimsical possibility of lights switching on and off as we enter or leave a room.

Imagine if, instead of being one more burden to manage, a building — and everything inside of it — could become an active assistant in consumers’ hectic lives. As we realize the Technology Vision for the industry and grow into the Experience Era of broadband innovation, these once-fantastical concepts are no longer outlandish ideas or the one-off creations of hobbyists.

Now, thanks to new advancements in smart home technology and Internet of Things (IoT) devices, it actually is possible for consumers to connect everyday appliances — ovens, irons, dishwashers, mirrors, toothbrushes… the list goes on and on — to their smart home ecosystems.

Over the last several years, smart home devices have proliferated in nearly every store you may enter or visit online. In some cases, it is now more difficult to find a “non-smart” version of a device than just a few years ago, when it was difficult to find the smart version. Just try to find a television without apps built in.

While smart home devices enhance convenience and control within consumer’s homes, concerns about their security persist. Are these smart devices truly secure? What steps can consumers take to keep their smart homes safe ?

The Hidden Complexity of Smart Devices

Smart home devices are often small and sometimes battery powered, which can make them appear simple at first glance. In some ways, using them can be as straightforward as turning a lightbulb on or off. Yet behind that simplicity lies significant complexity: connecting these devices to a network, managing software and firmware updates, handling interactions with other devices and even navigating the challenges of the initial physical installation.

For example, a smart garage door opener might be purchased and installed but onboarding frustrations may have prevented the customer from actually connecting it to the home network. Despite it not being connected to the user’s network, the device’s wireless interface may still be turned on — which can allow anyone within radio signal range to connect and potentially control it.

Recent advancements in device security have helped transform this landscape. These complexities have been redesigned with security integrated from the ground up, allowing devices to be easily and confidently onboarded to a consumer’s home network.

Standardization Has Made Smart Home Security Easier

Many smart home device manufacturers have worked hard to standardize and simplify installation and onboarding activities — which means consumers don’t need to be professional IT experts to bring a smart device into their home networks. Through these standardization processes, smart home devices enable security settings by default.

One of the more prominent smart home standards organizations is the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA). Matter, one specification developed within CSA, is an industry-wide initiative designed to simplify setup, interoperability and security. A Matter-certified device must meet strict requirements, so consumers can trust that essential protections are in place.

Network operators along with us here at CableLabs have been a part of these conversations within CSA, helping ensure that smart homes are not just functional, but also secure.

Practical Security With Today’s Smart Home

With smart home specifications and standards such as Matter, smart home device security is standard and user-friendly. For instance, many of the most common security recommendations are enabled by default:

• Automatic updates: Over-the-air device update capabilities are required for certification.
• Network segmentation: Devices are placed on a virtual network called a fabric, where only authenticated and authorized devices can communicate and send commands.
• Authenticity: The authentication and authorization mechanisms in place in Matter utilize the same foundational PKI technologies that ensure authenticity and enable strong encryption of home network traffic as it leaves the cable modem.

Baseline security settings on devices are now the standard in most instances. When paired with a network operator’s Wi-Fi access points and apps, it’s even easier to observe and maintain the continued security settings of these devices.

What Can Consumers Do?

Below are just a few routines that can assist users with the continued security of their smart home devices:

• Control guest access of smart home devices: If guest access is needed, guest accounts should be created through the main administrator account.
• Watch for unusual behavior: Identify when a device isn’t behaving normally. Smart home devices have much lower network bandwidth consumption. From a network provider’s app, customers can view spikes in bandwidth usage, which may signal security issues. Consumers can then take appropriate actions to ensure security.
• Retire or isolate old devices: If a device has stopped receiving automatic updates, it’s standard operating procedure to replace it.

Working to Make the Internet Safer and More Secure

Smart homes are making progress; it is much easier now than it was years ago to bring a smart home device onto a consumer’s home network. CableLabs continues to work to improve the onboarding process for these devices and make consumers’ connectivity experiences more secure — and more seamless.

When smart home devices have been certified to conform to a smart home standard, consumers can feel confident that their household devices have security controls built in.

Here at CableLabs, working alongside our member operators in our IoT Security working group, we continue to advance our secure network solutions so that smart home devices can safely and securely connect to smart homes. If you’re an employee of a CableLabs member operator and want to help shape these smarter, more secure solutions, consider joining the working group (member login required).

This work is foundational as we build networks that intelligently respond to user and device needs in the moment. By prioritizing connectivity that understands context and adapts automatically, CableLabs, our members and our industry partners are transforming how people experience their connected environment.

To learn more about the Experience Era and how it is redefining what connectivity means for consumers, read about the Technology Vision for the future of the industry.