IoT Security And Local Control
PSA for today. Home Automation. And this will be quick.
There are so many smart devices out there. Almost all operate with an app and many of them are from a place called Tuya. There are shelves full of this stuff at Walmart, Target, BestBuy, etc.
Tuya has an awful security record. You can easily see all manner of vulnerability reports out there on your Google searches. I recently reviewed an item and mentioned it was from Tuya and that the app required access to your cellular data among other things. The company came back and lambasted me for saying that. Reasonably sure they will never send me anything else to review.
The norm out there in the past was to buy a device with an ESP8266 or ESP32 chip. The consumer then had the ability to reflash the firmware to ensure your smart device wasn’t a network security threat. Or you could buy some smart devices pre-flashed.
In the past week or two one of my smart devices seemed to be acting up. An outdoor outlet that controls landscape lighting here. I decided to just buy a new device and flash the firmware.
I couldn’t find one to buy. Actually it is more accurate to say that I couldn’t find the SAME ONE to buy. There is an identical looking device with the same part number but with a -1 at the end. Guess what? You can’t use it for local control. It has to have that app. They have locked you out from putting a 3rd party firmware on their device.
After looking around at other similar smart devices it sure seems like it is trending in that direction for many home automation items.
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