Why Security in Your Home is Important & How Smart Homes Can Help

When times are uncertain, home security becomes more important than ever to keep yourself, your
loved ones and your belongings safe. Smart homes offer many ways to make your life easier, however, one of the major benefits of a smart home is to make your life more safe and secure. How do they accomplish this?

Security Alerts
Devices like the Smart Cube link to many smart devices in your home, and they can come in handy by
alerting the authorities if they sense unwanted activity in your home such as break-ins.

Automated Lighting
Lights go a long way in being the first line of defence in warding off attacks on your home. Why? If
lights come on at the right time in the evenings or nights, it gives the illusion that there are people at
home. Intruders are less likely to break into a currently occupied home than an empty one. If your
garden lights come on when they detect motion, this is likely to deter intruders too. When you have a
smart home, you can automate your lighting to turn on and off at specific times. You can also make
use of smart lights that turn on when they detect motion.
You could also set your system up in a way that you get alerts on your smartphone when your smart
home system detects motion inside or outside your home during times when you don’t expect there to
be any. This way you can monitor suspicious activity and take action if necessary.

Secure Access
An old-fashioned physical lock and key are only secure as long as you keep track of every copy of the
key that has been made. If you, or anyone else you have given a copy to, loses their keys or
misplaces them temporarily, there is a risk that your key (or an illegally made copy of it), could end up
in the wrong hands.
With smart homes, you have other options. Many smart door locks operate using keypad entry or
fingerprint recognition technology. These are more secure and easily copied, especially without an
authorised person knowing about them.
Smart door locks are also easier and quicker to use. Rather than fumbling for the keys after dark in
front of your door, you can swiftly enter a code or use your fingerprint to access your home and get inside. This reduces the amount of time that you are vulnerable out in the open, especially after dark,
when you are trying to get back into your home.

Surveillance
Certain smart lights have multiple functions – they can act as both a light and surveillance device by
recording what’s going on in your home. You can then keep an eye on your home via a smart device
such as a smartphone that has been linked to your smart home system.
Similarly, you can also monitor your home and the immediate neighbourhood by transmitting live
CCTV footage to your phone. Some CCTV systems also enable you to recognise people that are
recorded in the footage. This way, if any individual that has no reason or permission to do so has
been repeatedly loitering outside your home, you’ll know and will be able to look into the matter
accordingly.
Surveillance footage can act as evidence in case any theft or break-in does occur. At the same time, if
it is visibly obvious that your home and its vicinity are covered by CCTV surveillance, it is less likely to
become the target of a crime.