More than three-quarters of consumers believe smart homes will be as common in 2025 as smartphones are today, but 66 per cent are also concerned about smart home data being hacked by cybercriminals, a report said.

The survey of global consumers sponsored by Intel Security also found that 77 per cent of respondents expect to see personal benefits from living in a smart home.

A majority of respondents worldwide (54 per cent) indicated they might be willing to share their personal data collected from their smart home with companies in exchange for money, and 70 per cent agree that companies should give coupons and discounts to customers in return for data about device usage.

“Smart homes and their associated data have the potential to improve consumers’ everyday lives,” said Raj Samani, VP & CTO, EMEA at Intel Security.

“The survey shows that many individuals would be comfortable sharing that data for a price, but they are still understandably concerned about cyber threats. Security has to be foundational to the Internet of Things and when done right, it can be an enabler of IoT.”

Survey respondents were universally worried about potential security threats from smart homes, with 92 per cent expressing concern that their personal data could be hacked by cybercriminals. Yet in a testament to innovative security, almost as many respondents (89 per cent) said that if they lived in a smart-home, they would likely prefer to secure all their smart devices through a single integrated security package.

Consumers were less enthusiastic about existing security methods such as passwords, with 4 in 10 foreseeing passwords as a frustration with smart homes, and three-quarters (75 per cent) indicating they are at least somewhat anxious about the number of passwords likely to be required to manage smart homes. However, biometrics scored well as an alternative for accessing smart homes.

When asked to select several preferred forms of biometric security, 54 per cent opted for fingerprints, 46 per cent for voice recognition and 42 per cent for eye scans.

Additional key survey findings include:

•    Compared to other generations sampled, more Millennials indicated they might be comfortable taking money, discounts and coupons in exchange for sharing their behavioural data from their smart home devices (63 per cent for money, 44 per cent for discounts and 29 per cent for coupons)

•    The most commonly considered smart devices are smart lighting (73 per cent), smart kitchen appliances (62 per cent) and smart thermometers or boiler systems (60 per cent)

•    Over half of respondents expect gas and electric (57 per cent) bills and heating and cooling (55 per cent) bills to be reduced in a smart home. – TradeArabia News Service