By Scott McKinley, AVP, Premium Technical Support for Pocket Geek Home
Privacy concerns with many smart home tech devices are on the rise. According to a poll of 1,000 consumers conducted by telecommunications company Frontier, 60% of Americans say they consider themselves “very” or “extremely” concerned about the security of their smart-home tech.
From the most popular smart devices, including TVs, speakers and lightbulbs, to smart kitchen appliances, all smart-home products can be vulnerable to intrusion by others outside the home.
The same Frontier poll found some of the top smart-home security concerns include password exploitation (41%), identify theft (39%) and having one’s location tracked (36%), which frames the question of how real estate agents can help their end-user customers better protect their devices and make sure they are connected properly to address these concerns.
The right privacy support real estate agents can provide
As each specifically branded smart device may have different capabilities and instructions in the set up, real estate agents should consider supplying privacy tech support to help secure the home’s Wi-Fi network connection.
Many, if not all, smart devices require a stable internet connection, and real estate agents can provide the homeowner with the right support and protection for their privacy when using their smart device, including monitoring the Wi-Fi router. For example, protected tech support can help alert the customer of hackers trying to access the home’s network and seeing the devices attached to it. This could ultimately prompt against further activity in trying to access connection to the devices and stealing personal information.
Another key for agents is educating the consumer about enabling multi-factor authentication in the device’s settings. Multi-factor authentication, which most businesses now use to protect private information, is a method that requires the user to provide two or more verification factors to gain access to the specific device.
As individual consumers may not be fully aware of multi-factor authentication, tech support services can help electronic manufacturers show customers how to set it up, or guide them through it, whether it be another password, numbers or a fingerprint to enter.
Whether one buys the smart device directly from the manufacturer or through another distributor, protected tech support offerings can also help the retailer and the consumer understand what updates, if any, are needed on the device itself before use, which is also helpful in protecting the device’s privacy from other outside users. In the device’s settings, there can be software or firmware updates needed, and these updates can include added protection to the data stored on the device.
When performing updates, the location settings of the device should also be kept in mind. Just as one allows certain apps to track where they are throughout the day, smart home devices also have these capabilities, which means they can see every movement throughout the home and store that data for future use. Protected smart home tech support can help decide when and where to disable location services on a specific device while not impacting the device’s intended use.
Specific device help for real estate agents
When looking at protecting homeowner privacy, one common device being referenced is the smart TV, in which TV manufacturers can monitor a consumer’s viewing habits. Most smart TVs use automatic content recognition (ACR), which tends to scan the shows watched and share that data with third-party services, ultimately advertising other shows to watch. However, protected home support can help the end user disable ACR on their smart TV.
Another smart device many have privacy issues with are smart speakers, such as Amazon’s Echo and Google’s Nest. As smart speakers can record voice prompts, support offerings help review and delete these recordings in the device’s settings, and even remove them altogether by disabling the microphone when not in use.
Future of smart home privacy
With more smart home devices hitting the market in 2022 and beyond, these tips for connectivity, password protection, usage settings and specific device applications will allow real estate agents to help their customers increase the privacy protection of the home’s smart devices and give a sense of clarity as these devices evolve.
Owners of smart homes can now better understand the risks associated with these devices and be better prepared to combat them. Today’s smart home is supposed to be a secure home, and by implementing the right tech support provider, homeowners can feel comfortable using their smart devices without the fear of being hacked.
For more information on smart home devices and how to keep your clients protected, visit pocketgeekhome.com.
Photo: iStock.com/DrAfter123
