On a recent cold winter night, my wife and I snuggled up in bed, enjoying the warmth from our dependable thermostat, but as the evening 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, but we tried increasing the control unit, but nothing seemed to work.
The temperature continued to drop. Soon, we were shivering under the covers. That’s when my wife and I heard an odd noise coming from the control unit, a low hum, light as a whisper. What was wrong with it? We decided to call an HVAC specialist to take a look. When he arrived, he took 1 look at the control device plus started laughing. “What’s so funny?” I asked, feeling a bit embarrassed. “Well, it looks like your control device has been hacked,” the HVAC 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? Why? The technician explained that wireless control units are vulnerable to hacking if they’re not officially secured, but he swiftly fixed the complication plus commanded us to change our Wi-Fi password and enable multiple-factor authentication on our smart devices, but as we snuggled back into bed, relieved that our control device was finally working, she and I felt creeped out. What else in our house could be vulnerable to hacking? It was an odd and unsettling reminder of just how much technology has become part of our lives.