Hacking the Front Door

I’ve been getting deeper into the Internet of Things or smarthome recently with connected lightbulbs and doorknobs and I’ve been toying with the idea of getting a connected door lock. The advantage is being able to get in the house if I leave my keys inside but have my phone (which I always do) or letting Melanie or the kids in if they lock themselves out.

But I think I’ll be waiting a bit longer before going that route.

Gadget makers love the Internet of Things. Just look at connected refrigerators, connected tampons, and connected pregnancy tests as some examples. As I’ve said before, and I’ll say again, the security of these devices is often inadequate. This week at DEF CON, two researchers, Anthony Rose and Ben Ramsey, emphasized this point by demonstrating how they easily compromised 12 different Bluetooth Low Energy smart locks using cheap hardware that cost around $200 altogether.

If a lightbulb gets hacked, that’s annoying, but not consequential. If my front door gets hacked, it can be devastating.¹

1. Although to be fair, there are a lot easier ways to break into a house than hacking the front door, like picking the lock, busting the lock, busting a window, etc. ↩