Smart Home: A protective shield for private home – Handelsblatt

Berlin For days, the manufacturers of home appliances, consumer electronics and smartphones revel of their opportunities in a networked home – to visit on of Ifa, which ends today. It’s also too good: All devices in the private home communicate and exchange their data, the owners can monitor and control from anywhere in the world using mobile phone, tablet or laptop. But the beautiful world got quirks, since unsettle every day about cyber attacks and data theft potential customers for such a networked environment.

Many companies now realize that they without proper security architecture its products and solutions may bring difficulties to the man. “A reasonable security concept is a key criterion for any successful product in the areas of Smart Home and Smart Energy,” says Peter Kellendonk, chief of the same medium-sized company from Cologne, which develops technologies for device networking.

So the household appliance manufacturer Miele focused on letting the data flow of its 400 network enabled models as possible in the four walls to yes no to open gateways for hackers. Although a Miele customer read on the display of his oven, how far the washing machine in the basement is just how long the dishwasher still does – he can change more than on and off or the washing program from its smartphone but not.

“From Miele will only state data released,” said a spokesman. In safety-related equipment such as the oven or the freezer, he may not even that. While it can be seen from the road that the stove is still on. But the off button must then have press the friendly neighbor, if you will not repent. “If a hacker penetrates into this system would be a very limited damage,” says Miele. Starting next year, the Gütersloher enhance the ease with an app from outside – Miele promises the highest safety standards

The German market leader for household appliances appreciates the dangers from the network then also rather low.. “The potential in other areas is certainly much higher, for example, if the computer is tapped,” it says.

This may also be related to that hackers have not yet discovered the smart house properly because there are so few of them. But predictions are that in five years, around ten per cent of households are equipped with networked devices. Already commissioned the German Telekom hackers to find vulnerabilities in their smart home platform Qivicon. Until now, it was still ahead of enemy attackers, they say. “A relevant vulnerability there yet.”

The Group also relies Qivicon proven safety standards: Encryption from device to device, secure routers, servers in Germany, will use data of the customers do not transferred. But also in Bonn, we know that the competition continues with the Cyber-criminals: “There are always new ideas.”