Look around your house for a second.
Your TV is connected to Wi-Fi.
Your printer is connected.
Your CCTV camera is connected.
Your smartwatch talks to your phone. Your phone talks to your car. Your robot vacuum has an app. Some people even have Wi-Fi kettles.
At this rate, I'm just waiting for my rice cooker to send me a friend request. 😂
Connected gadgets are awesome. I actually like being able to check a camera from outside, send something to the TV from my phone or turn something on without getting off the sofa.
But there's a small problem.
Every time we connect another device, we're also adding another possible way into our digital life.
And some of these gadgets probably aren't getting the same security attention as your phone or laptop.
That Cheap Smart Gadget Still Has a Password
Think about that RM30 smart plug you bought online three years ago.
When was the last time you updated its firmware?
Exactly. 😂
Maybe it updates automatically. Maybe it doesn't. Maybe the manufacturer stopped supporting it two years ago. Most of us have absolutely no idea.
We just know the thing still works.
That's the weird part about IoT. A gadget can sit quietly in your house for years, connected to Wi-Fi 24/7, while you've completely forgotten that it even has software inside it.
CCTV cameras, routers, smart doorbells, TVs, speakers and other connected devices are basically tiny computers.
And tiny computers can have security problems too.
Convenience Keeps Winning
Of course, nobody wants to spend Saturday afternoon doing a cybersecurity assessment on their robot vacuum.
We buy these things because they're convenient.
Connect to Wi-Fi. Download app. Scan QR code. Done.
The problem is that every convenient connection creates another relationship between devices, apps, cloud services and accounts.
There's a deeper cybersecurity version of this idea in Convenience Is an Attack Surface, which looks at how making technology frictionless can sometimes create security trade-offs we don't really notice.
For normal users though, we don't need to become cybersecurity experts.
Just do the boring basics.
Change default passwords. Keep firmware updated. Remove gadgets you no longer use. Don't expose devices directly to the internet unless you actually need to. And maybe think twice before buying a Wi-Fi version of something that really doesn't need Wi-Fi.
Because we're heading towards a world where almost everything can connect to everything.
That's super convenient.
But maybe my toaster really doesn't need an IP address. 😅