Smart doorbells are becoming a common sight on UK streets. These are doorbells that link into your house systems e.g. wi-fi. Commonly they have video cameras so you can use your smart phone to see who’s at the front door and even speak with them through the doorbell.

Which? Magazine tested 11 different doorbells found on eBay and Amazon, many of which were highly recommended, but all had security problems of some kind, including-

• Some models send your wi-fi name and password to servers in China unencrypted, which means any hacker able to intercept this data could then access your home systems.
• Some could be easily pried off your door and resold
• Some had a standard easily guessable password
• Some were vulnerable to common hacks such as KRACK
• Most left any data transfer unencrypted
• Some collected information they should not have access to e.g. your address

Tips on how to keep your smart doorbell secure:

• Look at the brand. If you haven’t heard of the brand, or there’s no brand at all, then you should be cautious. Trying searching for the brand to see if they have website or are easily contactable. If you can’t then you should give device a wide berth.
• Check product reviews and be aware that some companies stuff reviews with overly positive messages. Look for negative reviews and detailed reviews as these can be more instructive and if there aren’t any then be suspicious.
• Change the password. Before adding the device to your wi-fi make sure to change the password to something unguessable.

If you have any experiences with these smart doorbells do let me know, by email.