I'm trying to better understand what I can and cannot "secure". If I can't secure the information, I try to obfuscate any pattern I am able to with "chaff". Randomizing actions has a better chance of ensuring I don't get noticed, and if I do get noticed I control what they "see". The more useless information I present, the more they have to sift through, and the higher the likelihood they will move on to an easier target.
My primary domain has been on the internet since the very early 90's (I actually don't recall what year I registered it). So it's ancient.
Because of that we get thousands of hack attempts each day. There have been days where we were getting thousands of attacks per hour.
In the old days I'd call up the college or school, that was trying to hack us, and make legal threats. Or I'd backhack them if they weren't in the US.
But after a while that was just too much work. So we made a bunch of honeypots to mess with people. That was fun, but after a while. Too much work.
Now we have a pretty involved system and a lot of regional domains, countries, and IP blocks that aren't even allowed to connect. I've written scripts that will automagically add ip's and domains to blocking lists if there are too many failures to log in, or if people try to connect to accounts that are normally hacking avenues on most systems.
My server, my domain, has never been hacked. It's been online, almost continually for 30 years. Not that many people can make that claim.
The sad part is, security IS NOT THAT HARD. But too many people are idiots and don't understand it. It's like the whole 'two-factor' crap that's being pushed. The ENTIRE reason for 'Two-Factor' where they use your phone or an email address, is TO MAKE HACKING YOU EASIER.
That's its purpose. It is a security loophole and nightmare that exists solely to allow people to get past a strong password. Passwords (strong ones) ARE NOT HACKABLE! Phones, emails (which are transmitted in the clear) ARE.
Drives me nuts. Along with the people who don't understand how 'Two-Factor' was meant to work and say incredibly stupid things.
Vacuum story seems analogous to how the Marxist teachers unions control their little robotic Red Guard street insurgents, formerly known as American students.
Time to send in the War Hoover (says the OldVikingSENSO) Go Navy: FLY NAVY!!!
That’s why I carry a 1911 in 45 ACP to deal with the machines that go haywire in the house. Roid Rumba, meet 185 grain bonded JHP in a +P load. Problem solved, problem stays solved….
We have a very limited smart home network - basically some lights and a couple of temperature sensors.
It's nice to come home to a lit driveway at night, and to turn them on from my phone if they're down for the evening by the time I get in. Yes, timers can do some of this, but we also like being able to set additional lights for when we're away, add Christmas lights, etc.
Yes there is a security risk, I suppose. But as in all things there is a multi-way tradespace between convenience, security, cost, etc. The first key is knowing you're making such trades at all, and the second is making them knowledgeably.
I made the comment to The Wife the other day, that when I finished getting the local network set back up - have to install the Starlink box inside, and connect it to the router again, which will require connecting all of the smart appliances back to the network - that we would have four separate wireless accesses, and that I wanted to put the smart devices on only *one* of those, and separate that one from the rest of the system.
she scoffed and replied that I was just making things complicated.
Our home automation uses Zwave. A little dated but still well supported in terms of hardware availability, and seems fairly robust. The controller - from a company that doesn't need a subscription to keep access - has a hard-line connection to the router. (Although I suppose one could use a wifi adapter and put it on a dedicated WAP.) The controller does all of the automation tasks locally so you can unplug it from the router and things like lights-on-at-sunset will keep working just fine.
From what I can tell, most LG stuff uses wifi. There are controller hubs that apparently can handle multiple protocols (e.g. the link below) but I have zero experience with anything but Zwave only systems.
I'm trying to better understand what I can and cannot "secure". If I can't secure the information, I try to obfuscate any pattern I am able to with "chaff". Randomizing actions has a better chance of ensuring I don't get noticed, and if I do get noticed I control what they "see". The more useless information I present, the more they have to sift through, and the higher the likelihood they will move on to an easier target.
My primary domain has been on the internet since the very early 90's (I actually don't recall what year I registered it). So it's ancient.
Because of that we get thousands of hack attempts each day. There have been days where we were getting thousands of attacks per hour.
In the old days I'd call up the college or school, that was trying to hack us, and make legal threats. Or I'd backhack them if they weren't in the US.
But after a while that was just too much work. So we made a bunch of honeypots to mess with people. That was fun, but after a while. Too much work.
Now we have a pretty involved system and a lot of regional domains, countries, and IP blocks that aren't even allowed to connect. I've written scripts that will automagically add ip's and domains to blocking lists if there are too many failures to log in, or if people try to connect to accounts that are normally hacking avenues on most systems.
My server, my domain, has never been hacked. It's been online, almost continually for 30 years. Not that many people can make that claim.
The sad part is, security IS NOT THAT HARD. But too many people are idiots and don't understand it. It's like the whole 'two-factor' crap that's being pushed. The ENTIRE reason for 'Two-Factor' where they use your phone or an email address, is TO MAKE HACKING YOU EASIER.
That's its purpose. It is a security loophole and nightmare that exists solely to allow people to get past a strong password. Passwords (strong ones) ARE NOT HACKABLE! Phones, emails (which are transmitted in the clear) ARE.
Drives me nuts. Along with the people who don't understand how 'Two-Factor' was meant to work and say incredibly stupid things.
And folks wonder why I refuse to have "smart" anything, and won't own a car made after 2014.....
Vacuum story seems analogous to how the Marxist teachers unions control their little robotic Red Guard street insurgents, formerly known as American students.
Time to send in the War Hoover (says the OldVikingSENSO) Go Navy: FLY NAVY!!!
That’s why I carry a 1911 in 45 ACP to deal with the machines that go haywire in the house. Roid Rumba, meet 185 grain bonded JHP in a +P load. Problem solved, problem stays solved….
We have a very limited smart home network - basically some lights and a couple of temperature sensors.
It's nice to come home to a lit driveway at night, and to turn them on from my phone if they're down for the evening by the time I get in. Yes, timers can do some of this, but we also like being able to set additional lights for when we're away, add Christmas lights, etc.
Yes there is a security risk, I suppose. But as in all things there is a multi-way tradespace between convenience, security, cost, etc. The first key is knowing you're making such trades at all, and the second is making them knowledgeably.
I made the comment to The Wife the other day, that when I finished getting the local network set back up - have to install the Starlink box inside, and connect it to the router again, which will require connecting all of the smart appliances back to the network - that we would have four separate wireless accesses, and that I wanted to put the smart devices on only *one* of those, and separate that one from the rest of the system.
she scoffed and replied that I was just making things complicated.
Our home automation uses Zwave. A little dated but still well supported in terms of hardware availability, and seems fairly robust. The controller - from a company that doesn't need a subscription to keep access - has a hard-line connection to the router. (Although I suppose one could use a wifi adapter and put it on a dedicated WAP.) The controller does all of the automation tasks locally so you can unplug it from the router and things like lights-on-at-sunset will keep working just fine.
Sadly, I doubt it is LG compatible.
From what I can tell, most LG stuff uses wifi. There are controller hubs that apparently can handle multiple protocols (e.g. the link below) but I have zero experience with anything but Zwave only systems.
https://www.zwaveproducts.com/products/aeotec-smart-home-hub-works-as-a-smartthings-hub-z-wave-zigbee-gateway-compatible-with-alexa-google-assistant-wifi
And that is why I will NEVER buy any LG product!
Makes perfect sense to me!
I'm almost too old to be paranoid. I know they are out to get me but I don't care. My kids on down should be very careful.