Lion Cipher Lab
Secure your smart-home devices
- Foundations
- Beginner
- ~40 min
- Free · no account required
Why it matters
The average home now has a dozen or more internet-connected gadgets, and they are the softest targets in the house. Many ship with a well-known default password, get security updates for only a year or two (if ever), and leave convenience features switched on that quietly open the device to the internet. A single compromised camera or plug can spy on you or become a foothold an attacker uses to reach your laptop and phone. Fixing this is not exotic work — it is a short, repeatable checklist you run once per device, and it protects everyone who shares your home.
What you'll learn
- understanding IoT risk
- changing default passwords
- firmware updates
- network segmentation (guest networks)
- reducing device attack surface
- reviewing app and cloud-account permissions
- safely retiring devices
Steps in this lab
- What IoT is, and why cheap gadgets are the weak spot
- Make a quick inventory of what you actually have
- Change every default password (and turn on 2FA)
- Update the firmware — and switch on auto-updates
- Put your IoT gadgets on a separate (guest) network
- Turn off features you don't use: remote access and UPnP
- Review app permissions and the cloud accounts behind them
- Retire and reset devices safely
- What you just did — and why it punches above its weight