Lately, I find myself concerned about the possibility that anyone with an X10 remote could walk up to my house and "hack" their way in, create havoc or simply be a pain in the @ss.
I have a fairly common inventory of X10 devices scattered thoughout my house. Most of the equipment is programmed through HomeSeer events and scripts to do the "nice" things -- turn on lights at dusk, announce people at the doors, turn off lights at night. During evening hours things like motion sensors are reprogrammed to turn on outside lights, inside lights, etc.
I have several virtual devices (driven by event programming and scripting) that can assume that people are asleep (lights are off/Televisions are off, etc). At this point, the system "Arms" itself by turning off all lights, reprogramming inside and outside motion detectors and arming the doors and windows. My system changes it's behavior depending on the time of day.
As a matter of convenience, I can press a button on my X10 remote and arm the system when I'm away (as opposed to when I'm in the house asleep). I didn't like the "one-button" arm/disarm strategy so I came up with a three button sequence to arm my system and a different three button sequence to disarm it.
I'm interested in hearing any other schemes people have employed for preventing the "would be x10 hacker".
Are there other people that have similar strategies in place. How do you tell your system that it is *you* that is pressing the buttons on the remote?
What have you done to "secure" your system given the high availability of X10 remotes, the possibility that you may have a device assigned to "A1" and the fact that you can't change the operating frequency of your X10 RF channel (like you can your garage door opener). X10 remotes and devices don't have things like "signatures" or encryption that make them unique.
What are your thoughts?
I have a fairly common inventory of X10 devices scattered thoughout my house. Most of the equipment is programmed through HomeSeer events and scripts to do the "nice" things -- turn on lights at dusk, announce people at the doors, turn off lights at night. During evening hours things like motion sensors are reprogrammed to turn on outside lights, inside lights, etc.
I have several virtual devices (driven by event programming and scripting) that can assume that people are asleep (lights are off/Televisions are off, etc). At this point, the system "Arms" itself by turning off all lights, reprogramming inside and outside motion detectors and arming the doors and windows. My system changes it's behavior depending on the time of day.
As a matter of convenience, I can press a button on my X10 remote and arm the system when I'm away (as opposed to when I'm in the house asleep). I didn't like the "one-button" arm/disarm strategy so I came up with a three button sequence to arm my system and a different three button sequence to disarm it.
I'm interested in hearing any other schemes people have employed for preventing the "would be x10 hacker".
Are there other people that have similar strategies in place. How do you tell your system that it is *you* that is pressing the buttons on the remote?
What have you done to "secure" your system given the high availability of X10 remotes, the possibility that you may have a device assigned to "A1" and the fact that you can't change the operating frequency of your X10 RF channel (like you can your garage door opener). X10 remotes and devices don't have things like "signatures" or encryption that make them unique.
What are your thoughts?
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