IoT Devices, Smart Homes and Growing Safety Concerns
Jubal Early and Lukas Yeshitla
Introduction
Welcome to 2019, where everyone and everything is connected by this beautiful creation known as the internet. This morning for instance, without thinking about it, I yelled at my Amazon Echo to play my summer jams playlist as the weather in Lewisburg, PA hit seventy degrees for the first time in 2019. In a matter of seconds, Alexa began playing Calvin Harris’ ‘Feels’ through the speaker, while the music video began playing on my Xbox. I then layed in my bed for another twenty minutes as I scrolled through Twitter to see what was going on in the world. It was time to start the day.
The value of internet is often understated, as it has become a basic function in the day-to-day activities of humans. But let’s reflect for a second. Considering my morning, ten years ago I would have had to get up out of my bed, log in to YouTube, plug my phone into the speaker’s aux cord, log in to twitter, and scroll on a limited news feed while standing and attempting to watch a music video at the same time. Utterly Ridiculous!
The internet, and now, the internet of things has taken connectivity to new heights, and has transformed the quality of life for humans. IoT has made it possible for devices to engage with each other through a centralized network system, as seen by the interconnectivity of my Iphone, Amazon Alexa and TV. My experience with the benefits of ‘IoT’ in my dorm room only shares a small picture of a growing phenomenon. Particularly, the internet of things has expanded and consumed the housing market, where smart homes and smart home devices are they new hot commodity for tech geeks and control freaks. Only Kidding! But smart homes and the devices integrated within them has given human’s a new form of control and personalization over their homes.
Market Trends
Parallel to the technological advancements of late is a growing desire for home security. The collision of these two industries has created great opportunity for the IoT and smart-device segment. Convenience and safety in the home are two of the main drivers which have led to the creation of a plethora of new “smart” devices. New devices such as hands-free lights, smoke detectors, baby monitors, climate control apps and even doorbell-camera hybrids are a few of the many devices making their way into thousands of homes across the United States. The first of these devices focused mostly on lateral signals from alarms, refrigerators and thermostats to alert homeowners of changes in climate or to enable control from the homeowner’s app. With increased integration between A.I. and IoT, the interconnectivity of these devices has evolved tremendously. More integrated devices utilize sensors that collect data and send insights through networks to other home devices. In doing so, these devices are saving homeowners money by running a more energy-efficient home, while also enabling a new layer of security.
As a result of the technological advances made in this market, the smart home market underwent a 17.3% total revenue increase from 2017 to 2018. Although this growth rate is expected to subdue between 2018 and 2019, to a 4.4% growth rate, sustained growth above 5% in the market is expected each year between 2020 and 2023 (Smart Home). Moreover, the smart home market expanded from 9.1 million to 17.1 million homes between 2017 and 2018. The total homes with smart home devices is expected to grow (not surprisingly) just as fast as the market’s revenue. By 2023, it is expected that some 44.2 million homes in America will be in the smart home market. In fact, we anticipate much of the early growth to be a product of excitement and anticipation amongst consumers. The long-term sustainable growth is intriguing because it illustrates the trust and dependability that customers will have in these devices to provide both convenience and security in the home. Before 2023, the household penetration rate of smart home devices is expected to be nearly 53.9%, up from 33.2% in 2019. This statistic alone is a great indication of how trusted these devices have been leading up to 2019, and how much growth potential there is in their development for the years to come.
Security Issues and Concerns
In the midst of the smart home and device market growth, there are also safety concerns that are intensifying. As the number of households that have smart devices grows, so does the probability of hacking and the likelihood for hackers to develop new ways to commit crimes. Jim Hunter of Greenwave Systems states that “it‘s all about Bots.” According to Hunter, bots make up about 29% of Web traffic. These programs can scan and exploit millions of Internet connections extraordinarily fast. In the meantime, they can steal data or even shutdown portions of the internet (Clauser, 2016).
One story out of oakville Ontario includes a couple’s home equipped with smart devices like lights, thermostat, security cameras, etc. A report listed in September of 2018 cited an instance where hackers were able to crack the Wi-Fi password which granted them access through the front door lock system. That same password had been used to set up the thermostat and security cameras, which gave the hackers complete control over the function and surveillance of the house. Enabled with voice commands, the hackers were even able to control the Amazon Alexa, and the underlying Amazon account linked to the homeowner’s financial information (Denne et al., 2018).
Another safety concern report came out of a young family’s home in Chicago when a hacker was able to gain control over the Wi-Fi password and baby monitors. The young parents heard a low, male voice coming from the nursery, and when they barged into the room, the same voice began to speak to them through the voice controlled surveillance cameras and citing that the hacked had been “watching them” (Marotti, 2019). This story, along with the Ontario story above are perfect examples of how these devices are being manufactured at a fast rate, but they are not being secured. Consumers of these devices must pay close attention to their home security, diversify their password networks and research manufacturers to ensure that their devices are being made with safety in mind.
Ethical Dilemmas:
“The internet is the most complex machine mankind has ever built by a lot, and it is hard to secure. The more we connect things to each other, the more vulnerabilities in one thing affect other things.” -Bruce Schneier
There are many ethical concerns that stem from the growing adoption of smart devices and centralized IoT systems. While IoT allows for greater connectivity, there are many privacy and safety worries that arise. The major ethical implication we noted in our research is the lack of consumer understanding on the necessary safety precautions they must take to secure their device. Primarily, many users of these devices our left vulnerable to hacks as they are too reliant on manufactures for providing safety. In turn, many users forgo basic safety measures such as changing their wifi passwords or incorporating two-step authentifications that would significantly decrease the chance of a cyber hack.
Having looked at a few case studies of cyber attacks on smart devices, we feel that the manufacturers of these goods should be holding more responsibility in protecting their users. For one, these devices are marketed with the intent of providing greater security, and we find it very unethical that these firms are not doing more to inform their users on how to defend against cyber attacks. The reality is, the smart home/device market is highly unregulated and firms have no inclination to provide greater security or transparency towards consumers (Diallo, 2013). The lack of regulation in the market is a major ethical concern for smart device users, as many users believe they are ensuring the safety of their homes by purchasing these devices, rather than exposing themselves to greater risks. Thus, greater regulations need to be enforced on smart home/device producers in order for them to close the knowledge gap that has left so many of their consumers vulnerable to cyber attacks.
Changes to the System
The ethical implications of an unregulated smart device market has been a point of contention for many researchers who feel that firms needs to be more proactive in abiding to safety standards. Through our analysis, we have come to the conclusion that the government needs to set safety requirements on IoT devices in order to ensure that all consumers will have a baseline level of safety. The speaker of the earlier quote, Bruce Schneier, who is considered a cyber security expert emphasizes that the Government should enforce certain safety features since cyber attacks are a national security issue. Schneier views the lack of regulation of smart devices as exploitative of consumers, since many users do not care or are unaware of the reality of data hacking, which can have damaging external effects for society as a whole (2018). Though we are not experts in the field, we believe the U.S Government should take a similar market regulating approach as the European Union. Currently, the European Commission regulates smart device producers by demanding the security measures taken in their products are listed on a sticker, which has given consumers greater transparency surrounding the safety of the device they are purchasing.
The value of regulating the smart home/device market is two-fold, both in the development of security measures and in the enforcing of ethical practices. In regards to developing better security protocols, we feel that forcing producers to list security measures will make them more inclined to invent better security procedures so they can out compete other firms, which benefits everyone. Additionally, by providing consumers with greater transparency of safety concerns, we feel that they will be more proactive in authenticating their passwords and updating their systems. Through regulating smart devices, consumers can truly gain the benefits of interconnected systems without having to worry about being vulnerable to cyber attacks that they had not adequately prepared for. In turn, the smart device market can act as an ethically driven system, where producers are incentivized to incorporate greater security measures in their devices, and consumers are equipped with a strong understanding of safe protocols.
Conclusion
Over the past few years, the value and usability of the internet has been ever-increasing, but still undervalued. The recent growth of the smart home and device market has opened the world up to a new code of safety and ethical concerns. The growth of the IoT has done much more than just increase global connectivity. Along with IoT growth, the world has undergone a period of increased convenience and opportunity. We have an opportunity as both creators and consumers of smart devices to enhance our overall utility, usability and safety through these devices if we can create more awareness on how to improve their safety mechanics. By implementing the aforementioned Changes to the System, such as more centralized regulation of their creation and implementation, the smart home market can experience the forecasted growth without the threats that seem inevitable in the current state of the market. Through safer consumption and more mindful implementation, these devices, which are created for our convenience, can truly enhance our safety as well. Negligence to their potential threats posed to society could lead us into a system of unsafe, enhanced interconnectivity, which bodes unfavorably for mindless consumers.
Works Cited Bibliography
Clauser, G. (2016, October 27). Are Smart Homes Open Houses for Hackers?
Denne, L. (2018, September 30). We hired ethical hackers to hack a family’s smart home — here’s how it turned out | CBC News.
Diallo, A. (2013, November 23). Do Smart Devices Need Regulation? FTC Examines Internet Of Things. Retrieved April 28, 2019.
Marotti. (2019, February 13). Smart devices hacked in digital home invasions.
Schneier, B. (2018). Click here to kill everybody: Security and survival in a hyper-connected world. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
Smart Home — United States | Statista Market Forecast. (n.d.).
