Smart Home - Smart for Your Protection?

Yes, I know. I grew up at 80ā€™s :wink:

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My mom and uncle were talking about when they got a phone in their homeā€¦ a phone. Not a cell phone, a rotary hang on the wall phone. My kids looked at them as if they had sprouted antenni and turned a different color :rofl:

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I guess Iā€™m showing my age, but I remember in the early 50ā€™s our phone was a party line with a six digit number. A party line was the same number shared by several houses, each having a unique ring which indicated who the call was being directed to by a real person operator. Back then you had to worry about nosy neighbors listening to your conversations, today it is google and amazon.

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So now we now you are The Wise Man :ok_hand:

I didnā€™t have 6 shared digitā€¦ in my town we already got individual numbersā€¦ however I remember the day when telecom company came and installed our first phone in my parentsā€™ house.
tulipan

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YEPPERS. 8 homes on our party line when I was in Jr. High School. We were stylinā€™ when we upgraded from the wall rotary to a Princess Phone. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

We actually live pretty low tech in a lot of ways, cell phones and satellite for internet, pre-2000 vehicles, wood heat. No land line, no cable, no broadcast TV for more than a dozen years. Its doable.

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@Scotty, I moved your very scary post to its own topic because I think its pretty important - lots of people use these: Ring Cameras hacked - hacker can see and talk to you

frightening stuff! :scream:

I was one of the last of my group to get a smart phone for privacy reasons. My phone has been doing everything a smart home does for a while. I have a google and an alexa, I dont care. Then again, Iā€™m the same person if people are watching or not. Pretty handy turning lights on, setting timers. Havent been hacked yet. But itā€™s a running joke.

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@Brian1,

I truly donā€™t blame you, sir! Sadly, Iā€™m classified in the generation with millennials although, I donā€™t like all this new technology. Iā€™m far from the ones that run to the store when the new product with better features hits the market.
Privacy is our right as Americans. I think privacy trumps over safety (Opinion) One should take note that the Caddo Parish Sheriffsā€™ office uses drones for surveillance and, I donā€™t particularly want the government to constantly fly over my property, It has nothing to do with police keeping us safe but everything to do with privacy. In Louisiana, one lawyer told me like this, ā€œYou can openly record anything and anyone that can be SEEN by the public view.ā€ (NOT OBVIOUS PLACES LIKE RESTROOMS OF COURSE)

He went on to use this demonstration, If you were changing clothes in your room with the window open (I would not do this but he had a point) and I was on the street recording or taking pictures they are not committing a crime but in that case, YOU would be the criminal for indecent exposure.

My Alarm system is already enough, and Iā€™ve had to pay fees because people such as my ex would forget it was on before she opened the door and left completely. However, I recently moved and right before it was the USCCA that helped me consider greater protection for my house because the crime was high in the neighborhood that we lived in. However, it was nice as far as looks and upkeep, but thatā€™s itā€¦the thieves wanted in your cars and especially your homes! Itā€™s a red flag that the would a hard-working person is asleep or at work and you know what happens.

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Was just reading this and had to wonder what was behind the collaboration? :thinking:

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Itā€™s a conspiracy. The machines are starting their world domination.

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[quote=ā€œ45IPAC, post:40, topic:15413ā€]
The machines are starting their world domination.
[/quote].

:joy::rofl::joy::rofl::joy:

What was that movie with Will Smith? Was itā€¦
Irobot ?

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Iā€™m more of a Terminator machines guy.

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Skynet. The terminators are coming.
Probably Hal too.

But also I, Robot. Ready Player One. 2001 a Space Odyssey. And every third sci fi movie ever made.

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This is the Smart Futureā€¦
Robo Hit and Robo Runā€¦ :wink:

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Not smart at all. Anything that connects to the cloud, has an IP address, requires ā€œsmartphoneā€ interaction, can video record you, listen and respond to your voice, tracks your location, monitors your vital signs is septic. Having said that, I use Google Maps, own a car that can be hacked/spoofed/stolen, use computers continuously, have an Android, use Steam, Widows, Office, Adobe, Intel, etc. All these products have been hacked and used in nefarious ways. If you want a solid guide to reduce your exposure: https://www.nsa.gov/Portals/70/documents/what-we-do/cybersecurity/professional-resources/csi-best-practices-for-keeping-home-network-secure.pdf

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The consumer has been driving it! These companies need to have a standard for everyone to use. Many people want specific devices but donā€™t want to be tied into just Apple or Google. This standard also means I could create my own device and it would work with any setup.

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Working in the medical device industry, I see the utility in common standards - for the most part they open the market to lots of innovation and small companies can make an add-on that is going to play well with the big boys. It can lead to more reliable function from all players.

That said, it can institutionalize weaknesses, and it certainly can lead to unintended consequences.

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Hate saying it but folks depending on medical devices are very vulnerable to hackers. Insulin Pumps, Pace Makers, etc. Same for hospital equipment and hospital networks. Generator Backups? Prime targets. We live in a precarious worldā€¦ Automobiles, aircraft, and trains are vulnerable. All this tech is convenient and easy to use for good and for bad. At the last DefCon I attended, they were hacking a new Camaro.

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yeah thatā€™s the territory I live inā€¦ securing access to medical devices is exploding as a pressing need. 5 years ago there was no such thing as a medical device cybersecurity planā€¦ now you canā€™t approve a device without one.

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And then thereā€™s this:

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