Securing smart devices. This is usually an after thought for most people. However in today’s environment of data breaches and ransomware, the security of your smart home devices should be a top priority. With more and more internet Of things devices creeping their way into households, this presents more opportunities for criminals to gain access to your secrets and privacy. Therefore, you have to make securing your smart devices a priority.

One of the simplest and easiest ways to do this, is keeping the operating systems of your devices up to date. You have most likely seen your computer given you a pop-up message, saying that you have updates ready to be installed.  These updates are necessary and should be done. This is one of the ways that companies such as Microsoft and Apple the makers of your personal computer and Mac operating systems, patches security vulnerabilities they find.  To install these updates, all you usually have to do is restart your computer for the updates to take effect. Therefore, you need to keep all your smart home devices and their corresponding  apps up to date. If this is not done automatically, you should log into the settings section of your device or app and search for updates to install. This should be done on a regular basis. However, if you did not initiate this update you should verify it is from a legitimate source before installing. If you prefer, you can have your devices or apps set to do automatic updates. 

Another must have security feature is using antivirus protection. This is a absolutely a necessity on your computer, tablet,  and cellphones. Many people believe that antivirus protection is only used on computers, but that is not true.  Your tablets and cellphones should also be using antivirus protection, because many people use these devices to conduct banking and online shopping. You can usually buy a program that gives you protection on multiple devices.  

 if you install an antivirus protection on your computer, you would usually get a notification that the program is safe.