Online-connected ‘smart’ devices may not be secure

These days, it’s possible to use your phone — and sometimes just your voice. How safe are your connected devices? Read carefully, but don’t freak out, experts say. A Growing Industry Research firm Gartner expects there to be 8.4 billion connected “things” in use in 2017, up 31 percent from 2016. For businesses, meanwhile, smart electric meters and commercial security cameras are expected to be the most popular “internet of things” products. Such gadgets are convenient, but they can present easy targets for hackers. Limited Government Last year, the Department of Homeland Security released a report describing runaway security problems with devices that recently gained internet capabilities, a collection that includes medical implants, surveillance cameras, home appliances and baby monitors. Brand Appeal

One problem: Many people don’t realize they have to secure connected devices with passwords like they do with computers. If a device comes with a default password, it needs changing the moment you hook it up. Similarly, your Wi-Fi password needs a hard-to-guess passphrase to ensure that it can’t be easily hacked.Another problem: Cheaper devices from no-name companies also pose more of a security risk. Password-protecting most connected devices, though, should go a long way toward ensuring they won’t be used to take down Netflix. Measured Caution Sydnee Thompson, a 24-year-old from Troy, Michigan, is cautious but sanguine about her connected devices. She has an internetconnected TV, but she’s reluctant to get a “smart” device like Amazon’s Echo — it would always be listening, and that others might also. — AP