The stories of people hacking into home security systems are all too familiar. They are also unnerving. When you install a home security system, you expect it to protect you against individuals of all sorts. But if they can hack into your wireless video cameras, how secure are you?
It turns out that one of the easiest ways for hackers to breach security systems is to steal account information and then log in using the victim’s username and password. This suggests something so simple that it might be hard to believe – better password management prevents home security hacking to some degree.
- Using the Same Usernames and Passwords
Nearly one-third of U.S. consumers with home security systems worry that their systems could be hacked. That is understandable, given what we have seen in the news over the years. The strange thing is that so many consumers make it too easy for hackers to do what they do.
According to a Virginia Tech study published in 2018, more than half of all internet users reuse the same passwords, or modified versions thereof, on multiple websites. The implications here are staggering.
Are you the type of person who uses the same username and password for all your online accounts, just so you don’t have to remember more than one of each? If so, it would only take a breach of one of your accounts to gain access to all of them.
This is how hackers break into home security systems. They rely on a practice known as ‘credential stuffing’. It is pretty simple. They buy usernames and passwords off the dark net, usernames and passwords that were previously gleaned through some sort of major data breach. Then they go to another popular website and attempt to login using each and every username/password combination at their disposal. Some of them eventually hit.
- A Simple Solution
This incredibly simple method of account hacking is easily addressed with an equally simple solution: do not utilize the same username and password for multiple accounts. Come up with something unique for every account you have. Moreover, use a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols to create passwords that are at least eight characters long.
Random password generators are available across the internet if you don’t want to try to come up with complex passwords on your own. Here is the point: using separate usernames and passwords all but eliminates the possibility of being victimized by credential stuffing. A hacker cannot use a username/password combination from one site to log into another because each of your accounts is different.
- Use a Password Manager
People tend to choose the same usernames and passwords because it is too difficult to remember dozens of them. That is understandable. However, there is a solution for that, too. Vivint Home Security, a company that specializes in home security and automation, recommends using a password manager.
Password managers are small apps that eliminate the need to remember multiple usernames and passwords. Every time you create a new online account, you add it to the password manager along with a unique username/password combination. The app handles logging into that account thereafter. You only have to remember a single username and password to access the app.
Hackers do not always have to rely on sophisticated hardware and obscure hacking methods to gain access to home security systems. More often than not, they can break in using stolen credentials. Stopping them from doing so is as easy as choosing unique usernames and passwords for all your online accounts. Why more people don’t do it is a mystery.
