Not everyone needs a smart home. And that's why. Smart home for dummies Smart home did not let the owner out
Threats to the development of the Internet of Things and modern approaches to cybersecurity were discussed in Moscow
On May 23-24, Moscow hosted a key event in the cybersecurity industry - Positive Hack Days, organized by Positive Tecnologies. About 5 thousand experts took part in it and discussed the main trends and problems of data protection. This year, analysts call the development of IoT - the “Internet of Things” - one of the main problems. A Realnoe Vremya correspondent also attended the event.
Analysts predict that by 2025, the main “users” of the World Wide Web will not be people, but smart devices. For example, smart TVs and multicookers with Wi-Fi control, surveillance cameras and smart home elements. Positive Technologies experts have compiled the top 5 most dangerous devices for users that have access to the Internet.
First of all, this is the heart of the entire home network - a Wi-Fi or 3G-4G router. Experts find up to 10 vulnerabilities in these devices every month. Developers, in turn, are in no hurry to eliminate them - in pursuit of cheap devices, the router firmware may not be updated, and manufacturers save on testing and security.
True, the most vulnerable element of the router remains the user. As Positive Technologies experts found out, out of 100 devices, 15 passwords were never changed from the factory ones. This means that anyone can get into his “brains” and program him to do any actions.
Analysts predict that by 2025, the main “users” of the World Wide Web will not be people, but smart devices
CCTV cameras are no less vulnerable. These devices pose a greater threat to business: about 90% of those used by small and medium-sized enterprises have critical vulnerabilities. A hacker can spy on an office through CCTV cameras with virtually no effort.
Navigation and wireless control have also proven to be good targets for hackers. To demonstrate this, Positive Technologies experts decided to play magician - they set the clock to cell phones directly into viewers' pockets and set fake GPS coordinates, confusing phone navigation. And if now a navigator failure, by and large, only threatens unmanned aerial vehicles, then a hacker can do a lot of trouble with unmanned vehicles. Resetting the time and date, in turn, invalidates website security certificates, opening the door for cyber attacks.
Continuing their tricks, security experts intercepted the signal from a wireless keyboard. At one time, hackers used keylogger programs that recorded all keystrokes and sent them to the owner. With development wireless keyboards this can be done by an operator sitting up to several hundred meters away. And the cheapness of the equipment - about 300 rubles - threatens mass espionage.
“Generals are always preparing for the previous war. Internet of Things is just a consequence of the problem. The main problem is the technological debt accumulated by IT companies. The first victim of the race for price is safety, and in an attempt to create a competitive price, companies sacrifice this,” says Artem Gavrichenkov, chief engineer at QRator Labs.
Artem Gavrichenkov: “Generals always prepare for the previous war. Internet of Things is just a consequence of the problem. The main problem is the technological debt accumulated by IT companies."
Experts suggest patching the hole in the security perimeter by starting with the head. No measures will save a user who does not change the router password himself and opens suspicious links. Also, experts believe, the state should develop certification standards for devices going on sale that would include requirements for the required level of protection.
WannaCry: how many times have they told the world
The presentation with this title was voiced by the head of the cybercrime investigation department at Positive Technologies, Alexey Novikov. The WannaCry ransomware malware is just one of hundreds of such programs known to mankind. A virus that encrypts data or places permanent banners on the screen and demands money to “treat” a computer is almost as old as the Internet.
WannaCry became known only due to its wide geography and scale of attack. Interestingly, the beneficiaries of the program did not even write it, but simply found it on the Internet and “sowed” it. The vulnerability that the virus exploited was known back in March. Those users who do not properly update their computers are targeted.
“Basically, the initial propagation vector using a vulnerable port on the perimeter is a very simple, very easy path. There was nothing stopping the attacker from complicating the exploit and... infecting even those organizations whose perimeter is protected,” noted Alexey Novikov.
Alexey Novikov: “Honestly, I doubt that the attacker will cash out this money. It seems to me that the goal was not money, otherwise he would have come up with a more sophisticated mechanism for delivery and receipt."
For the same reason, the expert doubts that the purpose of spreading the ransomware was money. Answering the question whether it would be difficult to cash out the funds received by the hacker, Alexey Novikov suggested that, oddly enough, it is unlikely that anyone would do this:
“Honestly, I doubt that the attacker will cash out this money. It seems to me that the goal was not money, otherwise he would have come up with a more sophisticated mechanism for delivery and receipt. We have previously seen cases where attackers exploited this vulnerability, but their activities were limited to using the computing power of servers. The attackers earned much more from this than from WannaCry and even withdrew money. In principle, this can be monetized, but in the case of WannaCry, I doubt it,” the speaker concluded.
During the forum, the thesis “There is no patch from human oversight” was repeatedly voiced. The company Acronis, which offers users cloud solutions for data protection, took up the task of refuting it. Their essence is that the company’s product periodically makes backups, with which you can restore data on your computer and smartphone before the moment of infection, right down to the icons on your desktop. In addition, the program has a built-in function that detects RansomWare at the time of infection and blocks its spread.
“The WannaCry infection statistics themselves showed that companies are quite negligent about software updates. The patch was urgently released back in March; quite a lot of time has passed since March. Those companies that suffered were those that did not have time or did not want to update for some reason... The main problem is precisely in the way of thinking, in responding to news, leaks, trends, in organizing the work of internal IT services and information security services,” the division manager is sure. standardization and risk management at Acronis Yulia Omelyanenko.
Yulia Omelyanenko: “The WannaCry infection statistics themselves showed that companies are quite negligent about software updates”
Experts call social engineering one of the main tools for spreading malicious software in general. This is the use of standard patterns of human behavior, with the help of which attackers convince the user to voluntarily download malware onto their computer. How many times in the last month have you received letters where your non-existent grandmother left you an inheritance of a million dollars, which you can get by clicking on the link? Or they tried to download a book “for free, without registration and SMS” from a suspicious site. What about an SMS asking you to look at your photos via a suspicious link?
You can fight social engineering by increasing the technical literacy of employees, Yulia Omelyanenko is sure:
A person who is less technically savvy will be a target for attacks.
Stalingrad-online
While the speakers were talking about cybersecurity, in a separate room there was a real battle for the city between representatives of the hacker elite and IT security services. A cardboard and plastic settlement with hundreds of virtual residents, transport, factories, traffic lights, a shopping center, a thermal power plant, banks and a railway was given to the hackers for plunder. The city was governed by the same systems that can be found in a metropolis; the layout was needed only for clarity.
The goal of the hackers was to earn as much game money as possible. For example, one of the teams intercepted an SMS from the mayor of the city containing incriminating evidence, from which they earned 150 thousand “publics”. The Hack.ERS team was able to steal money from SIP telephony users: by hacking into accounts, hackers received money using toll calls to short numbers.
A cardboard and plastic settlement with hundreds of virtual residents, transport, factories, traffic lights, a shopping center, thermal power plants, banks and a railway was given to hackers for plunder.
The “attackers” managed to stop a thermal power plant and an oil refinery - by hacking into the corporate network, hackers identified the controllers used by the organization and were able to stop the operation of the enterprises. This is due to the “oversight” of the organization’s administrators, which was discussed at the IoT meeting: the Wi-Fi router was protected by a default password that was not removed by the administrators. A vulnerability that would have taken a system administrator a minute to fix brought down the entire industrial complex of the city. Hackers cut off the power supply to the thermal power plant, which stopped supplying steam to the oil plant, which is why it stopped working.
Under the cover of darkness, hackers committed a grand theft: almost 4 million “publics” were stolen from the bank. To do this, they previously stole user data, which allowed them to hack the remote banking system. Another team of hackers took advantage of compromised bank card data, withdrawing 10 “publics” from each. In reality, such an attack would go unnoticed, but would bring income to the attackers. The major theft led to an economic crisis, forcing the organizers of the competition to conduct an additional issue of public shares.
PHDays organizers made a caveat that the city model is an ideal system for hackers. In reality, attackers have fewer resources, and security specialists have more capabilities. However, this model is enough to make it clear: a modern hacker can cause a lot of trouble by hacking the banking system, cutting off power to an entire city, or creating chaos in transport.
The “Internet of Things” also creates a new threat, when a “smart home” can turn against its owner. Take a look around - perhaps your refrigerator and coffee maker are already plotting against you?
Just yesterday, only geeks and enthusiasts dealt with smart homes, but today we, without suspecting anything, go to buy a spare light bulb, and return with a real smart device. In other words, the “smart home” is entering our lives so unceremoniously and mercilessly that soon, lo and behold, there won’t be even a brick left of “ordinary” houses.
At the same time, most of us have such a vague concept of smart home systems that over time the confusion in our heads only grows. We, of course, know that coffee makers have learned to prepare coffee at a given time, and the light to turn on when we ask it, but how it works is the devil's way.
Do we know what a “smart home” is? Smart lamps, coffee makers, robotic vacuum cleaners... A real techno-revolution is happening around us - and perhaps it's time to get to know the world of home automation better.
At the same time, almost all articles on the Internet either say a couple of words about this, or are intended for those same geeks who have already eaten more than one dog in this matter. Once we already corrected this misunderstanding and published an article about a smart home, and today we decided to repeat it - even more understandable, even clearer, even more concise than the last time. Let's start with an excursion into the world of smart home.
Introduction: terms and history
First of all, let's remember that “smart home” is a marketing name for home automation. The term includes everything that our home can accommodate: smart vacuum cleaners, coffee makers, refrigerators, light bulbs, radiators, humidifiers, temperature sensors, etc. In English, our “smart home” corresponds to the concept “smart home”. At the same time, you may come across the term “multiroom” - these are the same smart devices, but related to audio-video equipment: cinema centers, smart speakers, and so on.
There is also the English expression “smart house” - it is associated with various control systems in multi-apartment buildings: water supply, central heating and security. As a rule, these issues are not included in our “smart home”, but if it comes to your personal home, then why not.
Historically, home automation appeared already in the early 60s - immediately after the beginning of the rapid development of computers. At first, everything worked on punched cards and tapes, but even then control systems could turn on devices on a schedule and communicate with alarm systems. True, all this happened in the homes of enthusiastic inventors... Thus, the Spira brothers already in 1961 patented the first dimmer - a device that automatically regulates light.
Automation devices were created independently in different parts of the world, and in the end, in 1978, the Scots from Pico Electronics created a universal data transfer protocol for all these devices. The standard was called X10, and it was then that the doors learned to slide apart automatically, and the lights turned on with a clap.
The further history of the smart home is the history of the creation of such universal “languages” for various devices (for example, the CEBus electronic bus). The fact is that manufacturers of smart devices still could not agree among themselves which protocol to use. It's funny that this problem persists to this day - and is one of the most important in the issue of home automation.
You can also think back to 1984, when the American Home Builders Association first used the term “smart home,” and 1999, when Disney popularized the idea with a movie about the smart computerized home.
How it works?
The center of any home automation system is the controller - this is a computer that processes commands and sends them to the necessary devices and devices. Usually, this is a separate device installed somewhere in an accessible place. But sometimes your smartphone or tablet can act as a controller - this happens, for example, in the Apple HomeKit system from Apple. As a rule, devices from different manufacturers can be connected to a controller that works with a universal data transfer protocol.
So, the controller is at the center of the system. On the one hand, we place “sense organs” around the house that will provide it with various information - these are various sensors: temperature, humidity, leak detection, etc. When the sensor detects something, it sends the data to the controller, which analyzes it. We can communicate with the controller directly, bypassing sensors: by sending it commands from a smartphone or control panel.
And finally, on the other side of the system there are “active” devices, that is, our smart devices. The controller, depending on programmed algorithms or information received from sensors, gives commands to smart devices - and they, in turn, make our lives more convenient.
To summarize what has been said: a smart home system consists of three components:
sensors (sensors) sensitive to the surrounding space;
a central controller (or hub), which processes all information and sends commands to devices;
and the devices themselves that perform various tasks.
How do all these components connect to each other? In two ways: using wires or radio communication. It’s clear that the wireless method is more convenient during installation: you don’t need to install anything - buy, install and forget. However, wired systems are much safer because they do not rely on home communications. Wi-Fi networks, which may be subject to failures and even attacks.
I will also mention centralized and decentralized smart home systems. The first ones are controlled by one controller module - as described above in this section. The more devices are connected to each other, the more devices are controlled by one controller - the more complex and interesting the scenarios for their operation. However, there are also decentralized systems consisting of several chains of devices or even single autonomous devices. Such systems are less flexible in configuration, but more secure: one component fails, and the rest do nothing.
Now let's move on to what smart systems are. I'll break the description down into sections and start with the smart light.
"Smart light"
These words unite a whole class of lighting-related devices: from dimmer switches to smart light bulbs and blinds. We classify the functions of “smart light” - the main capabilities of such systems are as follows:
- custom scripts or algorithms, for example, changing white light to soft while reading.
turning on/off lighting depending on the time or presence of a person in the room;
brightness adjustment depending on the time of day, number of people and other triggers;
shading of the room when the projector or TV is turned on;
adjusting the amount of natural light - automating the operation of curtains and blinds;
light notifications about various events;
simulating the presence of people in the room to ensure safety;
designer room lighting scenarios that change dynamically or by command (Nanoleaf lamp set);
Microclimate
This class includes air conditioning, heating, humidification and ventilation systems, and this whole mess is called the abbreviation HVAC. The goal is to make life comfortable, but also save energy. Since human health directly depends on these systems, special attention when creating HVAC is paid to safety - therefore, microclimate systems often operate autonomously, independently of other smart home devices. Among the HVAC functions the following can be noted:
maintaining a comfortable temperature by regulating the operation of radiators, heaters and heated floors;
reducing the temperature to a comfortable level at night;
saving energy by turning off or reducing heating intensity;
humidification, dehumidification, ionization and purification of indoor air;
fresh air supply using fans, fan coil units and air conditioners;
automation of the operation of water supply systems, for example, shutting off valves when the owners are not at home.
An example of a convenient and simple smart thermostat -. The same brand produces a lot of other smart home devices that are compatible with the Apple HomeKit system. So if you are a user of Apple devices, familiarity with Elgato is a must. You can purchase these devices.
Safety
Security is a flexible concept, and in fact, even a regular alarm system in your apartment can be called a component of a smart home. However, the true capabilities of security automation know no bounds, especially when complemented with a variety of sensors and sensors. Let's name the main functions smart systems security:
surveillance using cameras, video intercoms and night vision devices;
saving surveillance video files to the cloud or built-in storage devices;
alarm and calling security services;
monitoring the integrity of windows, doors, walls and fences of the home;
monitoring the opening/closing status of windows and doors;
control of access rights to the premises using smart locks;
leak tracking;
detection of fire hazardous situations and their elimination;
monitoring of wiring operation and protection against short circuits ((thermal imagers).
As an example of convenient security devices, one can cite the company's gadgets. Their distinctive feature is that you do not need to spend a lot of time with installation or configuration. Using the controller (can be purchased separately), you can control a variety of sensors, which can be purchased separately or in a single set.
The company Ezviz makes some good cameras. The brand also has many sensors in its arsenal: leaks, door opening/closing, etc. As in the case of Fibaro, the company also has sensors for a smart home. Let's get acquainted with Ezviz devices.
Monitoring children, elderly and animals
This category can come in very handy, even if you do not plan to create a smart home from your home. Smart devices have great success in making life easier when someone needs your help and supervision. Let us list the capabilities of such devices:
real-time video surveillance of the facility;
two-way audio and video communication via video nannies and separate microphone systems;
push notifications about movements or loud sounds;
closing access to premises and automated movements;
object location monitoring;
monitoring the activity and health indicators of the object.
Examples of smart cameras and smart doorbells with video surveillance that are functional and easy to use include devices from Ring. These cameras support night vision, automatically detect movement in the field of view, and shoot in excellent quality.
Smart devices
The most “delicious” class of home automation systems is what many usually mean by a smart home. This includes smart kettles, pressure cookers, vacuum cleaners and other household assistants. The list of these devices can be endless, so I’ll just try to briefly classify them:
kitchen appliances: smart stoves, refrigerators, multicookers, etc.;
other household appliances: vacuum cleaners, scales, washing machines, irons, etc.;
smart furniture and interior items: automatic doors, cornices, curtains, lampshades, cabinets, etc.;
multimedia devices: smart speakers, TVs, projectors, karaoke systems, etc.;
games and entertainment: robotic constructors, educational games, etc. (robots).
Universal automation protocols
As I already said, the main problem of the modern smart home is the fragmentation of the market. This means that many smart devices may not work with each other at all. And in the best case scenario, you will have many applications on your smartphone for each of them. Not the most convenient option, if you think about it. Some companies offer complete turnkey systems where everything works perfectly, but in this case you will not be able to combine the devices you like: for example, a smart device and a humidifier from Apple.
The most obvious solution is to use devices that support the universal data transfer protocol. Today, the most promising of these “languages” are the Z-Wave and ZigBee protocols. Both of them were designed not only for convenience, but also for safety. The protocols have a so-called cellular structure. If any node of the system is damaged, commands are sent through any available node (device). Thus, if one component fails, the entire system continues to function.
Smart home - future or present?
Imagine that Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, invited you to his home. You enter a spacious hallway, smart assistant Jarvis turns on a moderately bright light so you can take off your shoes and hang up your outerwear. In the living room, the assistant sets up soft light, comfortable for relaxation. Mark asks Jarvis to turn on some nice background music - and the sounds of Miles Davis' saxophone are heard from the speakers. After dinner, you decide to watch a movie and Jarvis turns on the TV for you as the lights around you dim to a minimum. While you are enjoying the viewing, the smart assistant does not sit still: he monitors the safety of Mark’s daughters, and if the children cry, Jarvis, in the voice of Morgan Freeman, will immediately inform their father about this.
Diving into the world of “smart homes” is not necessarily difficult and painstaking work here and now. It’s quite possible to start small: buy a smart light bulb, then buy a controller and add another device to the system. Gradually, you will feel like a fish in water when it comes to automation.
The bell rings - guests have arrived. Jarvis immediately scans the newcomers and tells the owner of the house who is at the door. After a pleasant evening, you go to bed. In the morning, Jarvis prepares breakfast for all the guests, and he has a clean T-shirt for Mark - he shoots it from the pump right into the hands of Zuckerberg!
This example of organizing a smart home is just one of many. Bill Gates's home may be even more surprising: it is equipped with a glass elevator with voice control; swimming pool with automatic tuning comfortable water temperature; a control system for every plant in the garden and in the house and much more.
Of course, to acquire such a smart home, you need to head a successful company. But in general, smart technologies and automation systems are no longer the prerogative of a select few: the market is growing, and more and more solutions are appearing on it for consumers. To set up your smart home, you only need the desire to immerse yourself in the topic and directly engage in organization. Of course, there are many offers of completely ready-made solutions - for example, from BTicino, Crestron, Legrand and others - but you can start small. Let's say, from a smart light bulb - why not?
The amazing era of IoT, the Internet of Things - the global interaction of everything with everything through the network - is essentially just beginning, and the smart home is a good example of what awaits us in the future, but is available today.
Don’t forget about ours: here we regularly publish interesting articles about technology and, of course, current reviews of gadgets and smart devices. Join us on the Yandex.Zen platform.
In the first quarter of this year, our company notes a 30% increase in demand for its products, and most market players, including distributors and system integrators, predict that in the next five years the Russian systems market will grow at an average rate of 25% per year.
Who needs a smart home?
The growing interest of Russians in a smart home is obvious, but not everyone understands what it is. Half of the clients who come to us need an explanation of how automation technologies can solve their daily problems. They have a need to manage their housing, to optimize their life, but they still have no idea how this can be done.
As part of a smart home, they see an intercom with video surveillance and a security and fire system, but this, of course, is not the case. These are just disparate engineering elements, and a smart home is the connection of all subsystems, centralized control of lighting and air conditioning, heating, access control, video surveillance, control of gas leaks and water leaks, automatic watering and control of curtains. And all this is done using a smartphone. The number of subsystems that can be included in a smart home is practically unlimited.
This complexity of modern housing creates the need for a smart home. There are too many electronics and daily processes around us that need to be rationally structured, connected with each other, and controlled.
A smart home is a natural stage of progress, the evolution of housing, it is a direct consequence of all the technical innovations that surround us in modern houses and apartments.
Let's imagine a large country house in which a family with children lives; it has 7-10 rooms. When going to bed, you need to make sure that the lights and air conditioners are turned off everywhere - can you imagine how much energy resources will be wasted if this is not done? This is where smart home scenarios help - automatic shutdown by time, for example. And you don't have to walk around the house and turn everything off manually. Or the “everyone is gone” function: the owners leave the house, and all electrical appliances are safely turned off.
That is, the larger the area of the home, the more systems inside it, the more obvious the advantages of a smart home. And another important argument is savings. On average, “smart” systems reduce energy consumption costs by 20-30%, and the experience of our projects shows that a smart home begins to “work” at full capacity on an area of 100 square meters.
Professional equipment for a smart home lasts about 10 years, and then requires replacement due to obsolescence. The average cost of equipment is one thousand rubles per square meter. In a house or apartment with an area of 100 square meters, a smart home will cost from 100 thousand rubles. And now you can imagine how much it will pay for itself on average, saving 20-30% of the cost of heat and energy resources every month. According to our calculations, the full payback for a smart home on such an area is from 3 to 5 years.
And who doesn't need it?
Most likely, you don’t need a smart home if:
- You have a small apartment with a small number of functional areas (one bathroom, one kitchen, and so on).
- All switches are within walking distance; it is easy for you to monitor energy consumption: turn off the lights and turn off electrical appliances yourself.
- You don't have to provide remote access to an apartment for children, relatives, workers.
Not a very smart house
Most Russians live in small apartments, so the value of a smart home is not obvious to them. Recently, suppliers of “sets in a box” have begun to actively use this. They are sold at retail by telecom operators, Russian startups and Chinese electronics manufacturers.
“Kits in a box” are simple devices for controlling individual functions in the apartment: temperature, turning on/off a light bulb, turning off the water, and so on. The owner of the house sends an SMS or activates a function in the application, and a radio signal transmits a message to the device.
We call such kits “smart home probes”: they solve individual problems in apartments and, in general, can simplify specific household processes. You can install these kits yourself; professional engineers are not needed for this. Those who buy them do not have a real need for a smart home. And owners of large houses and apartments will never buy “sets in a box”, because “probes” cannot solve complex problems of a smart home.
Smart home market in Russia
The Russian smart home market looks like this. According to our estimates, approximately 50% are suppliers of foreign brands (USA, Germany, Austria). In most cases, their equipment complies with the KNX or EIB/KNX standard. This is high-quality, but expensive equipment for the premium segment in real estate.
20% of the market is occupied by Russian brands, some of which, in our opinion, are only masquerading as independent manufacturers and developers. In fact, their equipment was taken from the assortment of various Chinese manufacturers and passed off as their own.
Only a few are engaged in the actual development and production of complex integrated smart home systems in Russia. It is quite simple to distinguish real manufacturers - by the presence of patents and development departments.
The remaining 30% are the same “kits in a box”, inexpensive, uncomplicated and with a service life of 1-2 years.
The cost of Russian smart home technologies is several times different from the cost of foreign equipment; they are much cheaper. The cost of Russian equipment does not include excise taxes and import duties, transportation, markups from several wholesalers, costs of foreign development, salaries of foreign engineers - and they are quite high, it is worth admitting this. This explains the difference in cost, which, judging by the recent changes in the ruble exchange rate, will only increase.
Residential real estate will get smarter
The typical buyer of a smart home is a man over 30 years old, usually working in IT or otherwise connected with this field. He has a higher technical education and hence the habit of trusting modern technologies and integrating them into his life.
The Russian Guild of Realtors recently published a study of the new buildings market. They note that throughout Russia the share of comfort-class housing is growing, while projects for the integrated development of territories - the construction of economy housing on the outskirts of cities - on the contrary, are being phased out. We can associate the further growth in demand for smart home technologies with this factor.
Homeowners over high class are more interested in centralizing control of all life support systems in their apartment.
It is also important that developers have “ripened” to a smart home. Many of them are ready to integrate basic versions of “smart” systems into apartment buildings under construction: automated lighting groups, access control, automatic collection of data from meters, heating control, water leakage control, security and fire alarms.
This “smart” content of apartments allows developers to stand out from competitors, increase their status by working with innovative technologies and stimulate the stagnating real estate market.
A free retelling of the humorous work of Mat Honan, published by him in the American magazine Wired, in which he, in a humorous manner, recreates the picture of the life of the “happy” owner of a Smart Home. And if you believe the forecasts of scientists and analysts, then in five or ten years every wealthy consumer will have such a house. According to Honan, such a life cannot be called particularly joyful and calm.
The author of the story offers the reader a scenario of an ordinary day in a smart mansion. It begins with the resident of a “smart” home waking up early in the morning, hearing the sounds made by the pillows, which play invigorating rhythms and wink from the built-in light music. At this time, the alarm clock also begins to play something of its own, which does not quite coincide in theme with the works performed by the pillows. It is with this cacophony of sounds that a new day begins for the main character.
The owner of the house, already half asleep, begins to suspect that perhaps attackers have installed a malware virus in the control program for ensuring the operation of the smart home. And all this is due to the fact that he did not install the appropriate patch, which has not yet been released. As a result, the entire street on which his neighbors’ smart houses are located plays the most incomprehensible music and flashes all the colors of the rainbow. It’s good that the owner of the house managed to add some of the musical works to the “black list” of the Pandora service.
However, it turned out that the virus began to take photographs of the owner leaving the shower room and began posting them on Facebook. Although this is just a trifle compared to other deviations in the functioning of a “smart” home that have already appeared before. So, in 2022, some virus turned off the water all over the street in all smart houses just for Christmas and at the same time turned on all the irrigation systems - it was really sad, although the creator of the malware obviously planned to cheer everyone up.
After waking up so early with pillows and alarm clocks, the resident of the “smart” home decides to make himself some coffee and goes to the kitchen. He had to make coffee the old fashioned way, since the smart coffee maker had to be turned off a long time ago. She started experiencing some glitches and began periodically going online to participate in DDOS attacks on a game server located in Singapore. And all because a virus got into the operating system of the house, thanks to which now sometimes unknown hackers use smart housing as a botnet.
In 2020, the home owner installed a home operating system compatible with Android, since at that time various interesting applications and accessories were sold for it, and the design itself was the best in its segment. But then it turned out that the new corporate smartphone was incompatible with the current operating system for the home. Now you have to constantly carry a Google tablet with you, which is currently not supported by new firmware and software. And then the doors began to open on their own when they wanted, so the owner began to think about using a regular English lock instead of a smart key.
It was also discovered that many of these devices in the Nexus Home system use patent-protected proprietary connectors and chargers, and this is also not very convenient. And recently, for some reason, drones from Amazon stopped parking correctly and, as a result, broke the clothes drying device.
When it all started with a simple Nest thermostat and automatic climate control, it seemed to many that the future was bright and bright. Each company released a gadget for managing smart apartments or mansions, trying to surpass everyone else in this. The truth turned out that everything began to be determined by the company that first began to control the “smart” home.
Then, to manage and ensure compatibility, they also released the SmartWall infrastructure, connecting to it all sockets and climate control, control systems for the refrigerator, watering flowers, and accounting for dishes. And also various biosensors, filtration systems, stereo systems, management of medication accounting, car parking, and exercise equipment. There are many other things - you can’t remember them all. And who then thought that the new agreement between Samsung and Microsoft would lead to unpredictable consequences ten years later?
«좋은 아침 입니», - greets the owner in Korean electric oven, while he heats up his dinner on the induction stove and the owner sleepily mutters “조용히” back to her.
Over the past ten years, a number of devices have failed (it turned out that things tend to break even in a smart home), and now the house is served by a strange company of devices on different operating systems. It is not possible to achieve normal operation, but what can you do? You need to adapt: after all, reinstalling all the software, and even changing most of the gadgets, is too expensive.
On the way from the kitchen towards the room, the house suddenly “delights” the owner with flashes of LED indicators and greets with the exclamation: “Congratulations, you have completed the daily requirement of steps.” Lately, the house has begun to remind us so often of this norm of the distance traveled that we had to set it at twenty steps a day, so as not to listen to constant reminders from the sofa, armchair and TV about the need to jog or walk, even in the middle of the night, to ensure the required norm, guaranteeing good health and long life.
With a cup of coffee, the sleepy owner of a smart home sits down at the table. He turns on the stereo projector and reads the news. There is nothing interesting in them, and out of boredom he flips through the section of advertisements for the sale of houses that cannot be renovated. They don't even have a simple charger for an electric car, no smart technology inside. But a person, drinking coffee, continues to dream of buying some completely meaningless and completely “unreasonable” house.
It's getting light. Automatic blinds open on their own. The smart toaster and shower in the bathroom turn on independently, welcoming the owner. A new morning is dawning in a smart home on a smart street.
