Some Easy Tips to Make Your Smart Home Devices Safer

Some Easy Tips to Make Your Smart Home Devices Safer
While smart devices can make our lives better, they are not always built with the best security. If you have any IoT (Internet of Things) devices such as Smart TV’s, Intelligent lights, Webcams or other smart devices/appliances in your home, you need to follow some simple rules to improve your security. Remember that the security of your smart devices is just as important as the security you apply to your laptop, desktop or smartphone.
When you buy a smart device, make sure that the manufacturer regularly releases security, software and/or firmware updates for their devices.
ALWAYS change the default account info and if the device allows you to do so, change the default username as well as the password. All passwords should be at least 8 characters long with uppercase, lowercase and special characters. DO NOT use the same passwords for each device and DO NOT use any ‘normal’ passwords that you use for any of your ‘normal’ accounts.
Setup a separate network for your smart devices. Most modern-day routers have this capability. I will also post a short tutorial on how to accomplish this later. This way, if your smart device network does get compromised, your home network is still safe and all the devices on it.
If you check your smart devices remotely, ONLY use an encrypted connection (HTTPS!!). The reason being is that you will be broadcasting your information in plain text, including your password, if you do not.