SMART Blog

Over the past few years, there has been a general fascination with smart devices in the home, and to a certain extent, the office. These Internet of Things-powered appliances and gadgets can help add to the convenience of rote tasks and other everyday activities, but is it actually a good idea to use them? As it turns out, unless you’ve taken the proper precautions, maybe not.

Ask someone what they think social media has done for society, and you will likely hear a series of complaints about how it is the driving force behind the most divisive period in human history. While their perspective is interesting, it is also wrong. Today, we thought we would take a look at how some of today’s most controversial technologies are working to improve society. 

Smart devices and Internet-of-Things devices in general have taken the world by storm, and a home without at least a handful of smart devices is quite rare to find these days. However, smart devices—or devices that connect to the Internet to perform various functions—must be approached with a certain level of caution.

Smart devices are everywhere, with the Internet of Things (the blanket term for any device that connects to the Internet for added functionality) growing larger each day. While this is great for convenience (and in many cases, the "cool factor") it can have some chilling ramifications for cybersecurity.

It’s almost summer, which means baseball is in full swing. The game that many of us grew up on has recently gone through a major shift; one that small business owners can replicate to help their organizations. It came about through the use of data and today we’ll discuss how the national pastime has changed and how you can use the same strategies to help make your business better. 

The Internet of Things can be a tricky concept to wrap your head around, and it certainly doesn’t help that so many new smart devices are being added to it day-in and day-out. Let’s take a look at what makes up the Internet of Things and why it’s important to know what it is from a business perspective.

The increase in wearable technology that you see coming into your business has substantially increased over the past couple of years. People are doing a better job of tracking their health and using wearable technology to improve their work lives. This creates a problem for the business because every single device brought onto a network is a potential threat and threats have to be managed. Let’s take a look at how people are using wearable technology and what you can do in response to this trend. 

The Internet of things can be described simply as devices that have connectivity to the Internet, and thus to a computing network. Many times these connected devices aren’t manufactured with security solutions onboard (or any security-minded foresight at all) so they can be fickle instruments when trying to onerously secure a network that includes numerous IoT devices. Today, we'll go over some of the threats IoT devices pose to your network, and how to reliably secure it from these threats.

The Internet of Things might be a considerable step up in terms of connectivity for a lot of users and organizations, but this comes at a cost. With more devices accessing connected networks than ever before, security becomes a main focal point of discussion for the Internet of Things. How can you make sure that your network is secure while these devices run rampant all around you?

The term “smart technology” has been around for a while. There are now millions of products that are now “connected”. They include smart forks, smart tortilla makers, and most inexplicably, a smart egg tracker; and, that’s only in the kitchen. For most people, the smart tech that they are considering is that of Internet-connected devices that actually have some day-to-day practical utility. Today, we will look at some sectors of the smart technology industry that are making great headway as we speed toward a ubiquitously-connected future.

When one thinks about the Internet of Things (IoT), smart homes, smart cars, and mobile devices come to mind. While innovations like these are fueling the excitement behind the IoT, it’s actually the smaller, behind-the-scenes IoT devices that are poised to bring about the most significant change to our connected society.