It was a frigid winter time night.
My wife and I were snuggled up in bed, enjoying the warmth from our trusty wireless control unit.
As the night wore on, we noticed something strange. The temperature in the room started to drop, even though the control device was set to a comfortable level. We tried increasing the control unit, but nothing seemed to work. The temperature continued to drop, plus soon my buddy and I were shivering under the covers. That’s when we heard another noise coming from the control unit. It was a low hum, light as a whisper. We could not figure out what was wrong with the control unit, so she and I decided to call an HVAC specialist to take a look/ When he arrived, he took one look at the control and started laughing. “What’s so funny?” I asked, feeling a bit embarrassed. “Well, it looks like your control device has been hacked,” the specialist said, still chuckling. “Someone has been sending signals to lower the temperature in your room.” We were stunned. Who would want to mess with our control unit, and why? Wireless control units are vulnerable to hacking if they’re not properly secured, he explained but he hastily fixed the problem and challenged us to change our Wi-Fi password and enable two-factor authentication on our smart home devices. We snuggled back into bed, relieved that our control device was finally toiling properly, we could not help but be a bit creeped out. Who knows what other smart devices in our home could be vulnerable to hacking? It was an unsettling reminder of just how much technology has become a part of our yearly lives.