"privacy" articles

The MDU market is unique for its multiple stakeholders, bulk deployments, and multiple locations for installations. End-user residents, MDU property managers, and building owners benefit directly from proptech. Other ecosystem players are also in a position to capitalize on new demand and value, including smart home solution vendors, ISPs, insurance agencies, security providers, and installers. MDUs may have hundreds of units on one property, which leads to bulk device purchases and...

The future for the security industry, whether serving the consumer, small-to-medium business (SMB), or commercial market lies in add-on services and the ability to bring new systems to market with easy installation, various monitoring options, and extended value. For the consumer market, Parks Associates research of 10,000 internet households shows every add-on service tested received more than 60% of security owners having interest. Fire is a no brainer, but the strength of PERS...

A smart door lock belongs to the family of smart home access devices and is a wirelessly connected electromechanical lock—or retrofit mechanical control for a deadbolt—that can be remotely monitored, locked, and unlocked by communicating using a smartphone, tablet, computer, or smart speaker. It may communicate either directly, via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, or through a gateway or voice assistant. These devices provide keyless entry/exit serving as a replacement for traditional keyed locks...

Parks Associates research finds three in four internet households are concerned about their personal data security, with more than half saying they are very concerned. While consumers are very concerned about the security of their data, they are very fatalistic about this topic—almost two-thirds of consumers feel it is impossible to keep data completely secure. The proliferation of apps and connected devices creates many new avenues for data to leak out of a household, often just...

With global cybercrime, damages already estimated near $1 trillion in 2019,[1] the threat to businesses and their remote employees surged as lockdowns and social distancing first hit in early 2020. Organizations ranging from enterprise to SMB face enhanced strategic, financial, and regulatory risk from data breaches, while employees are increasingly concerned about home network cybersecurity. Evolving Cyber Threat Landscape Throughout 2020, worldwide ransomware attacks...

Accessing and experiencing digital media have become more complicated, both for consumers and the companies providing the content. The fracturing of entertainment options, coupled with a decline in traditional pay TV, has forced many consumers to subscribe to a bevy of services in order to access the video content they want to watch. While this situation offers consumers a greater than ever selection of content, it offers a unique set of challenges from an authentication and...

It stands to reason that video and audio analytics tech on other devices will eventually come to the smart home as engineering advancements make it feasible on a smaller and cheaper platform. Consumers may encounter this technology at work or in public and come to expect similar features and capabilities. There are also advancements in audio and video data that will act as competition or supplement these audio and video in gathering data for analysis. Rise of...

  During the  Protecting Consumers at Home: Security and Privacy Matters  panel discussion at the recent CONNECTIONS: Connected Home Conference hosted by Parks Associates, it was revealed that 54% of consumers are concerned about identity theft but are unsure about how to protect their data and privacy. Consumers are concerned about cybersecurity and data privacy threats but are also confused about the nature of these threats and how to protect...