Researchers hack Samsung SmartThings, exposing vulnerabilities

Is your smart home too smart for its own good?

A home full of connected devices like front-door locks, motion sensors, thermostats and smoke alarms all talking to a central hub and controllable via an app is the promise of smart home platforms like Samsung SmartThings. But all that interconnectivity of high-value home devices is also, apparently, catnip to hackers, potential malefactors and enterprising researchers.

A new University of Michigan security study entitled Security Analysis of Emerging Smart Home Applications demonstrates how Samsung's SmartThings platform may be especially vulnerable to hackers. Written by Earlence Fernandes, Jaeyeon Jung, and Atul Prakash (Fernandes and Prakash are both from the University of Michigan, while Jung is part of Microsoft Research), the paper is being presented this month at the upcoming IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy. Read more...