The Downsides of Smart Devices

Introduction

Smart devices are everywhere. From voice assistants and smart TVs to connected printers, doorbells, and conference room displays, our homes and workplaces are filled with technology designed to make life easier. Many of us use these devices without thinking twice. They’re just part of the background of everyday life, now.

Unfortunately, convenience always comes with a catch. Often, it comes at the cost of your cybersecurity.

As remote and hybrid schedules blur the lines between home and office work, smart devices that were never designed to handle work data are increasingly used alongside laptops, phones, and company accounts. That overlap creates risks that most people don't realize they’re taking.

How Smart Devices Quietly Create Risk

Internet-connected devices (often called IoT, or “Internet of Things”) collect, transmit, and sometimes store data. They listen for voice commands, stream video, sync activity logs, or communicate with cloud services. While that’s useful, it also means these devices can become unexpected entry points into your digital environment.

A smart speaker in your home office might overhear sensitive conversations. A smart TV used for screen sharing could retain session data. Even a connected printer or scanner may store copies of documents internally. These devices don’t know what’s confidential, so they treat all accessible data the same.

The risk isn’t that these gadgets are “spying” on you, but that they often lack the same security controls as work-approved systems. Many don’t receive regular updates, use weak default passwords, or share data with third-party services that you never see. That’s where the danger comes in.

Why This Matters Outside the Office

When you work from home or on the road, your work device shares space (and networks) with personal technology. If a single smart device on a home network is compromised, it can expose everything else connected to that network.

This is especially important for people who:

• Take work calls near smart assistants

• Use personal devices for meetings or screen sharing

• Store work files on home networks

• Travel with laptops and connect to unfamiliar smart environments

None of this requires a hacker targeting you specifically. Instead, these risks grow quietly from routine practices they exploit.

Building a Security Mindset Around Smart Tech

You don’t need to unplug every device to stay safe, though. A security mindset means being aware of how your environment interacts with your work data and using that knowledge to keep confidential information secure.

Small habits make a big difference. For example:

• Be mindful of what devices are nearby during work calls

• Avoid connecting work devices to unfamiliar smart systems

• Keep smart gadgets updated and protected with strong passwords

• Treat home networks with the same care as office networks

Smart devices are helpful — but they weren’t designed with your data’s privacy in mind.

Conclusion

As work extends beyond office walls, understanding how everyday technology intersects with sensitive information is essential to staying secure at work. That’s why we all have to do our part to protect confidential data wherever we log in.

Remember, cybersecurity isn’t just about software. It’s also about awareness, surroundings, and the choices that we make every day.