Security has been a growing concern for many individuals in recent years. From physical safety to cyber attacks, the avenues of danger that each individual faces have multiplied exponentially.
Unless you’re going to commit to a full-blown life off of the grid, it’s important to take steps to protect the security of your home. Here are several different ways to do so in a comprehensive manner.
Solidify Your Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity is a serious 21st-century issue. From the alarming rate of individual hacking attacks to larger cybersecurity breaches, the threat of an online security crisis is always looming.
Part of the problem comes from the sheer number of channels that are being used. Everyone owns countless devices, like computers, tablets, and smartphones. The IoT is adding a host of other “smart” gadgets to the list too, from TVs to dishwashers to light bulbs.
Add onto that the need to protect various social media, email, and other software-based accounts, and maintaining cybersecurity can feel overwhelming. Fortunately, there are many steps you can take to address the issue.
Protect Your Network
When it comes to your home, the first place to start is your network. If you want to be safe as you use your electronics, it’s essential that you find a whole-home security system that can keep up with hackers over time.
A good Wi-Fi system should include AI-enabled cyber-security solutions that provide real-time data security around the clock. This machine-driven aspect allows modern systems to remain on the lookout around the clock. They can watch for suspicious activity, block ads, provide parental control, and otherwise monitor your entire network for strange or unusual behavior.
Guard Your Devices
In addition to a general network security blanket, you also want to protect each item within your network. After all, a quality network cybersecurity system may be able to identify suspicious behavior, but in many cases, this will lead to the device in question being quarantined rather than fixed.
That’s why you also need to take steps to keep any device you own protected. For a computer or a smartphone, you can install cybersecurity software to keep things safe. For other devices on your network, make sure to follow basic security steps like:
● Regularly changing passwords;
● Using two-factor authentication when it’s available;
● Staying on a private, password-protected home network.
By maintaining security on your individual devices, you can ensure that your entire home network isn’t infiltrated due to a signal weak link.
Stay Up to Date
The final step with all technology is to stay up to date. This is often connected to performance — e.g. if you don’t update your phone, it will get sluggish and apps will crash. And this is definitely true.
However, updates are also a critical aspect of security. Updates often come with important patches that keep your gadgets safe from ongoing security concerns. An updated device is always safer than one that has dated software.
Defend Your Castle
Cybersecurity may be a modern concern, but physical safety is anything but new. Home invasions and burglaries are common occurrences, and homeowners should take active steps to protect against them.
There are many basic ways to do this, like locking your doors and covering your ground-floor windows at night. However, you can also use technology to up your home protection game.
Automate Your Locks
Locking the door is a home invasion deterrent as old as time itself. However, you no longer need to use a piece of wood in medieval cross-beam fashion. In fact, you don’t even turn a bolt by hand. You can use smart home tech to automate your home’s locking procedures.
Automated door locks give you the ability to lock down your home even when you aren’t present. You can also program them to unlock in specific situations, such as an internal alarm system sensing a fire within the house.
Set Up Visuals
Locking your doors is a great first step. But that is, by and large, a “blind” activity. It doesn’t proactively guard against specific situations. You can do that by installing cameras outside your home.
You can tie cameras into your smart home system to give you a visual of your home’s security at all times. You can also use them to identify when a visitor has arrived at your home. You can even use a camera to see when packages are dropped off and to monitor them against the possibility of theft.
Illuminate The Situation
Light is a wonderful way to scare off an intruder. When it comes to home security, technology has managed to, once again, up the ante on illuminating the premises.
Install smart light bulbs and then integrate them into your smart home security system. You can use a smart light controller module to program your security lighting, too. Have it illuminate the areas around your home whenever something alerts your security system. You can also have your lights automatically turn on when it gets dark and turn off when the night is over.
Home security has been a growing concern for years, and the coronavirus pandemic only made things worse. If you want to be safe nowadays, you need to approach your home’s security in a holistic manner.
This starts with understanding the need for both cybersecurity as well as physical safety. From there, consider the different aspects that each area requires.
For cybersecurity, secure your home network, safeguard individual devices, and keep everything up to date. For home security, use smart gadgets like automated door locks, video cameras, and lighting to create a safe and secure home environment.
While there is no absolute security solution, utilizing the many tools at your disposal is a great way to make yourself as undesirable a target as possible. If you can address each of the different aspects of your home, you can rest in the fact that you’ve done everything you can to protect yourself and your loved ones from the threat of crimes, either in person or online.
