Why SmartCamera is a Safe and Secure Way to Monitor Your Kids

After months of balancing multiple roles at once, busy families are considering how smart home devices might help them manage everything happening in their household. Innovators like ecobee have created easy-to-use solutions that are designed to make everyday parenting challenges that much simpler. The question is, what technologies are you comfortable inviting into the vulnerable areas of your home?

When it comes to data privacy and smart home security, ecobee approaches things differently. ecobee aspires to be a welcome guest in your home, one that you will invite back again and again. With today’s uncertainties, these data privacy protections are becoming increasingly important as we strive to connect with those who may be physically far.

“In situations of household confinement and social distancing, you can't necessarily get to people quickly,” ecobee Director of Security Lee Brotherston explains. “They may be geographically distant or inaccessible. ecobee SmartCamera is a really good way to get a visual check on someone and get a view of what's happening in their environment.”

Brotherston adds security concerns were especially considered throughout the development of SmartCamera. “From the beginning, we carefully considered the privacy implications to ensure it was designed in a way that minimized the risk of a security issue.”

While it’s no secret that data privacy infringements have occurred at other technology companies, Brotherston is confident ecobee has families covered. “A large proportion of password hacks happen because people use passwords that have been exposed in breaches elsewhere. However, with ecobee SmartCamera, we’ve enhanced our login settings to include Breached Password Protection. This means ecobee will now detect if your password has been part of a past breach at other companies, and you’ll be notified the next time you log into your account.”

And ecobee doesn’t stop there. “We also require two-factor authentication as a mandatory security component with SmartCamera customers,” Lee explains. This will play a major role in blocking against attacks.”

Unlike other smart cameras, the ecobee SmartCamera has an auto on/off feature and uses on-device processing for additional peace of mind. “We don't share your data with any outside parties. It's very much connected only to your account, and only available to you, which I think is a major differentiator compared to other technology companies.”

Perhaps one of the most important privacy factors has to do with how SmartCamera processes your data. “SmartCamera won’t send unencrypted data over the network. Instead, videos are processed securely on your device.” Lee goes on to explain what data encryption truly means by saying that if anyone was to be able to obtain that data, it will be useless to them. “It would look like a garbled mess to even the greatest programmers or mathematicians.”

That’s why Lee trusts to SmartCamera in some of the most important places of his house. “After witnessing the development of our smart home devices and taking part in the many, many iterations to meet our strict privacy and safety standards, I know that no one’s going to be viewing my video stream or misusing my data. As a Dad, I feel confident that we got this right.”