In the News
New IoT (Internet of Things) items continue to store more user information. In iRobot’s latest Roomba remembers your home’s layout and empties itself, James Vincent from The Verge discusses Roomba’s new feature of storing your home floor plan for easier future cleanings. Vincent also explains that the new Roomba’s can be connected to at home smart devices so that one can use voice commands to clean your home and on a certain schedule. Vincent states that the home mapping gets stored in the cloud and could potentially be shared with other IoT devices, if one chooses to connect them.
Our Take
Cleaning can be a daunting task and products like the Roomba simplify cleaning and save time. However, a home mapping update can pose potential security risks for a user. Depending on the amount of information stored on your Roomba, more and more of your personal data gets stored in the cloud. This means that you potentially have less control over where the data ends up. This goes for all IoT products as well including home audio security devices. With the high frequency of security breaches and data selling, understanding who had your data and what data they have is crucial. If you do use the new Roomba consider using vague descriptions for each room and not labeling every area of your home to keep as much of your personal life private.
Recommendations
So how can you protect your personal information while using IoT products?
- Understand the risks of putting your personal information into the world, and only share what you have to especially on IoT products
- Utilize the security and privacy options on all of your devices
- Understand the legal rights and practices of companies that store your data
- Stay up to date on news regarding recent security and data breaches to see if you may have been affected