Potential Security and Ethical Concerns
As the intention of smart homes is to “gather data from a variety of sources including the environment, the home and the patient themselves.” (Bennett et al., 2017) in real time, many patients and homeowners are cautiously hesitant regarding the ethical and security concerns if this data was exploited. As most modern smart homes operate from a centralized data store such as a Google NEST, “apps and devices are able to communicate by reading from or writing to variables in the centralized data store.” (SMART HOME SECURITY DEVICES MAY BE VULNERABLE TO SMART HACKERS 2018). This presents the possibility that intruders can physically or digitally compromise a “low-integrity product”, like a light switch or thermostat, and subsequently gain control of the centralized data store and security devices (SMART HOME SECURITY DEVICES MAY BE VULNERABLE TO SMART HACKERS 2018). This not only puts the user’s privacy and medical data of the resident at risk, but potentially exposes them to physical danger.
