With the availability of Internet of Things (IoT) devices offering varied services, smart home environments have seen widespread adoption in the last two decades. Protecting privacy in these environments becomes an important problem because IoT devices may collect information about the home’s occupants without their knowledge or consent. Furthermore, a large number of devices in the home, each collecting small amounts of data, may, in aggregate, reveal non-obvious attributes about the home occupants. A first step towards addressing privacy is discovering what devices are present in the home. In this paper, we formally define device discovery in smart homes and identify the features that constitute discovery in that environment. Then, we propose an evaluative rubric that rates smart home technology initiatives on their device discovery capabilities and use it to evaluate four commonly deployed technologies. We find none cover all device discovery aspects. We conclude by proposing a combined technology solution that provides comprehensive device discovery tailored to smart homes.
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A Framework for Evaluating the Security and Privacy of Smart-Home Devices, and its Application to Common Platforms
In this article, we outline the challenges associated with the widespread adoption of smart devices in homes. These challenges are primarily driven by scale and device heterogeneity: a home may soon include dozens or hundreds of devices, across many device types, and may include multiple residents and other stakeholders. We develop a framework for reasoning about these challenges based on the deployment, operation, and decommissioning life cycle stages of smart devices within a smart home. We evaluate the challenges in each stage using the well- known CIA triad—Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability. In addition, we highlight open research questions at each stage. Further, we evaluate solutions from Apple and Google using our framework and find notable shortcomings in these products. Finally, we sketch some preliminary thoughts on a solution for the smart home of the near future.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1955805
- PAR ID:
- 10618321
- Publisher / Repository:
- IEEE Computer Society
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- IEEE Pervasive Computing
- Volume:
- 23
- Issue:
- 3
- ISSN:
- 1536-1268
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 7 to 19
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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