Growing the Internet of Things Into a Safe and Responsible Member of Your Household

Illustration of a smartphone being held in a kitchen, with icons showing fan, lights, etc.

By Michael Fagan, a computer scientist working with NIST's Cybersecurity for IoT Program

Technology is supposed to help us, but sometimes it feels like for every step forward we take two steps back. Like many people (and despite my resistance), my family has accumulated a few internet of things (IoT) devices in our home. Our motivation for acquiring them has been to streamline our lives. For instance, when we needed to be able to play our newborn son’s music anywhere in the house, a Bluetooth speaker seemed a natural fit — and it was! Inspired, we adopted a “voice assistant” for the kitchen to put all the information and entertainment of the internet at our fingertips while we prepared meals. This works great most of the time. The rest of the time, the voice assistant (who shall remain nameless) just ignores me! And if my wife tries, good luck. She’s ignored more often than not; at least that’s how it seems.

Issues with functionality aside, I was resistant to the haphazard introduction of IoT devices into our home for other reasons. Because I have worked closely with computers and technology for my whole career, the fact that these devices are computers is not lost on me. I also realize the many implications of putting an internet-connected, microphone-equipped computer on my kitchen counter (will a live feed from my house wind up on a sketchy website?). Thinking about how to secure these devices can lead to some interesting situations.