Usable Security in Smart Homes

A number of technologies are emerging that enable the creation of “Smart Homes”, which are households containing numerous networked devices all interacting with each other over the home network. As these Smart Homes become increasingly prevalent and users become more reliant on mobile devices to handle sensitive information, research related to the development of a usable security framework for Smart Homes is increasing in importance. In this paper, we first give some of the motivating use cases for such a security framework. We then describe some of the design challenges presented by the creation of usable Smart Home security frameworks. With an emphasis on usability, we proceed to highlight the hardships users face when interacting with currently available security frameworks and substantiate the need for a significant improvement in this field. Finally, we summarize and conclude.