Security for HA controllers: Best Management Practices ?

[Marc_F_Hult <MFHult@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, 30 Mar 2007 19:21:39 -0400, "Robert Green"
<ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
<-PKdnQEOYt8HPZDbnZ2dnUVZ_u6rnZ2d@xxxxxxx>:

>Attackers Exploit Unpatched Explorer Flaw

[snip]

>Some other fascinating subjects, too:
>
>Fortune 500s Unwittingly Become Spammers
>
>A Fresh Look at Password Thieves
>
>Stolen Identities Sold Cheap on the Black Market

>Is it time to build a bunker and live off the net?  (-:

In an article titled "Betrayed" by in the current (March 26 07) issue
of the New Yorker, author George Packer writes this about the Green
Zone in Baghdad: "The deeper the Americans dug themselves into the
bunker, the harder they worked to create a sense of normalcy ... The
more chaotic Iraq became, the more the Americans resorted to
bureaucratic gestures of control. The fact that it took five
signatures to get Adobe Acrobat installed on a computer was
strangely comforting."

And sometimes the bunker mentality precedes the bunkers.

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IMO, home automation  and a smart home ought to be helpful in smart
risk assessment and effective risk reduction, and real-time loss
mitigation (think sprinklers and their cyber equivalents) -- not feed
paranoia.

What are the real threats and needed protection that pertain to HA in
general and net-connected devices in particular in the context of
comp.home.automation ?

And specifically, what are 'best practices' with respect to net
connectivity for home automation controllers?

Assume a home network with broadband Internet connectivity, a local
network with multiple computers connected to it ( +/-  WIFI) that is
also used for audio visual and other HA infrastructure, and a PC-based
home automation controller controlling home infrastructure among other
things.

Assume a median-price (US $210,000) home in which ~5% of the cost
($10,000) is invested in various Home Automation and security
features.

In other words, the budget is sufficient to deal with the
vulnerabilities that creating a smart, net-connected home creates.

Or is it?  ;-)

... Marc
Marc_F_Hult
www.ECOntrol.org
www.NeuralHome.org