Internet service providers can potentially track your activities via your smart home devices. Here’s a simple way to stop them, according to Princeton University researchers.
Botnets are not the only threat to your Internet of Things (IoT) devices: Your internet service provider (ISP) can also detect and track your in-home activities by analyzing internet traffic from smart devices, even when those devices use encryption, according to a paper from Princeton University researchers.
However, the researchers found a simple way to block ISPs from spying on your smart devices: Traffic shaping.
Many smart home devices have always-on sensors that capture users’ activities in their home, and transmit information about these activities to cloud services run by the device manufacturers. Devices currently on the market are purchased to record everything from sleeping patterns, exercise routines, medical information, and sexual activity, the researchers noted. And even if a smart home device is not designed to capture private activities, they may still be detected by ISPs.