Unlike most other IoT threats, malware can survive reboot.

Priced at £365 MSRP, the CA-1 enables new opportunities for Control4 dealers to offer smart home experiences to a broader market via home builders, MDU developers, and hotel operators.

Control4 Corporation (NASDAQ: CTRL), a leading global provider of smart home solutions, announces the immediate availability of the Control4® CA-1 Automation Controller. The CA-1 enables Control4 Dealers to provide an orchestrated smart home experience for homeowners interested in lighting, temperature control, and security.  At £365 MSRP, the new controller is designed to appeal to homebuilders, MDU developers, and hoteliers, giving them a way to differentiate with the inclusion of the most sought-after smart home experiences.

“The emerging range of smart locks, thermostats, lights, and cameras available today have certainly raised consumer awareness for the promise of the smart connected home,” said Martin Plaehn, Chairman and CEO, Control4.  “Homeowners as well as home builders and building developers are looking for more than a just collection of independent smart devices. Our new CA-1 and industry-leading Control4 OS delivers that needed capability and customer experience – orchestrating all of the smart devices in a home.”

“Demand for home automation is growing and home buyers expect smart experiences in the houses we are building,” said Vincent Grabowski, Vice President of Construction from Saddle-Tree Homes in Colorado Springs. “But if we just add individual smart devices here and there, the homeowner experience quickly becomes disjointed or incomplete. Control4 and its new CA-1 provides a far more comprehensive solution and cohesive connected home experience – and at a price-point that fits all of our homes.”

Tailored specifically for smart home projects that desire lighting, comfort, and/or security, the CA-1 Automation Controller includes Ethernet, WiFi, Zigbee and Serial communication, leveraging the large Control4 database of thousands of 3^rd party devices to ensure easy integration and interoperability. Using the optional Z-Wave module, sold separately, enables the CA-1 to be compatible with a selected set of Z-Wave control devices including door, window, water, flood, and temperature sensors and electrical outlets and dimmer outlet modules. The CA-1 also features Power-Over-Ethernet (PoE) so it can be installed virtually anywhere with a single network cable.

“The CA-1 utilizes the industry-proven Control4 platform and broad device ecosystem so our dealers can immediately succeed with the skilled resources and expertise that they already have,” added Plaehn. “This is not a dialed-down version of the Control4 OS nor a compromise; this is a new category of automation controller designed to meet the connected home demands of home builders, building developers, and their buyers.”

Expanding the Control4 controller lineup, the CA-1 complements the entertainment-focused EA Series controller line, used in projects of all sizes and complexity. Using the CA-1, home builders and homeowners can now consider starting with smart lighting, safety, and security via Control4.

The new Control4 CA-1 comes in white for discrete wall, closet, and shelving installations. The CA-1 is available and shipping today, globally, at £365 MSRP with a two-year warranty.

For more information on Control4 visit www.control4.com.

What are Meltdown and Spectre?

Meltdown, designated as CVE-2017-5754, can enable hackers to gain privileged access to parts of a computer’s memory used by an application/program and the operating system (OS). Meltdown affects Intel processors.

Spectre, designated as CVE-2017-5753 and CVE-2017-5715, can allow attackers to steal information leaked in the kernel/cached files or data stored in the memory of running programs, such as credentials (passwords, login keys, etc.). Spectre reportedly affects processors from Intel, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), and Advanced RISC Machine (ARM).

Modern processors are designed to perform “speculative execution.” This means it can “speculate” the functions that are expected to run, and by queuing these speculations in advance, they can process data more efficiently and execute applications/software faster. It’s an industry technique used to optimize processor performance. However, this technique permits access to normally isolated data, possibly allowing an attacker to send an exploit that can access the data.

What’s the impact?

Intel processors built since 1995 are reportedly affected by Meltdown, while Spectre affects devices running on Intel, AMD, and ARM processors. Meltdown is related to the way privileges can be escalated, while Spectre entails access to sensitive data that may be stored on the application’s memory space.

The potential impact is far-reaching: Desktops, laptops, and smartphones running on vulnerable processors can be exposed to unauthorized access and information theft. Cloud-computing, virtual environments, multiuser servers—also used in data centers and enterprise environments—running these processors are also impacted.

It’s also worth noting that the patches that have been released for Windows and Linux OSs can reportedly reduce system performance by five to 30 percent, depending on the workload.

Google’s Project Zero has proof-of-concept (PoCs) exploits that work against certain software. Thankfully, Intel and Google reported they have not yet seen attacks actively exploiting these vulnerabilities so far.

Are they fixed?

Microsoft issued a security bulletin and advisory ahead of their monthly patch cycle to address these vulnerabilities in Windows 10. Updates/fixes for Windows 7 and 8 will be deployed on the January Patch Tuesday on January 9. Microsoft also issued recommendations and best practices for clients and servers.

Google has published mitigations on the infrastructure/products that may be affected (YouTube, Google Ads, Chrome, etc.). They also released a Security Patch Level (SPL) for Android covering updates that can further limit attacks that may exploit Meltdown and Spectre. A separate security update for Android will also be released on January 5. Note that patching on Android is fragmented, so users need to notify their OEMs for their availability. Nexus and Pixel devices can automatically download the update.

Apple’s macOS has been reportedly patched in version 10.13.2, while 64-bit ARM kernels were also updated. VMWare also issued its own advisory. Mozilla, whose team confirmed that browser-based attacks may be possible, addressed the vulnerabilities with Firefox 57.

In short, homeowners have been forced to choose between the autonomy provided by standalone smart devices on the one hand, and the robustness, sophistication, and extensive device support of professional automation systems on the other.

Until now, that is.

When >> Then, a new feature of Control4’s 4Sight subscription services, bridges that gulf and gives homeowners the best of both worlds: the freedom to enhance, edit, and add to the automated events in and around their home, combined with the reliability, extensive device support, and unparalleled customer service that only a professionally installed automation system like Control4 can deliver.

So, what is When >> Then, exactly?

Simply put, it’s a slick and intuitive browser-based interface that asks homeowners a very simple question: “When X happens, how would you like your smart home to respond?” For example, by navigating just a few simple screens, a homeowner can set straightforward commands like “When I press the top button on the keypad in the kitchen >> Then play my favourite Spotify playlist,” or “When the sun rises >> Then turn on the kitchen lights.” Schedules and triggers can also be set to activate multiple automated events, for example; “When it is 6:00 p.m. >> Then turn on living room lights, lock the front door, and tune the television to channel 246.” With over 10,500 supported third-party consumer electronic devices in the Control4 ecosystem, the options for customisation are nearly limitless.

And the personalisation options aren’t merely limited to devices in and around the home; homeowners can also quickly and easily set up triggers that send push notifications to their smart phones as well. Parents might choose to receive a pop-up alert when their kids unlock the front door at the end of the school day, for example, or when the living room TV is turned on.

“When >> Then also means they won’t have to deal with frequent, time-consuming truck rolls or service calls from customers who merely want to tweak personal settings here and there.”

It’s exactly the sort of personalisation that Control4 homeowners and dealers alike have been requesting for quite some time. But getting it right was no easy task. It required a very intuitive, yet flexible interface: one that allowed for rich customisation without the need for the homeowner to have any experience or expertise in programming. Getting it right also meant designing a personalisation environment that allows homeowners to see what sort of programming their dealers have already done for the device or devices in question, but in such a way that they don’t have to worry about undoing, breaking, or interfering with professionally programmed, automated events.

Having his or her work protected from hands-on homeowners isn’t the only benefit for Control4 dealers, of course. When >> Then also means they won’t have to deal with frequent, time-consuming truck rolls or service calls from customers who merely want to tweak personal settings here and there. This leaves dealers with more time to focus on the bigger picture: installing and programming new home automation systems and performing major overhauls and upgrades for existing customers.

In short, Control4’s new “When >> Then” functionality gives homeowners the ability to tweak their homes to fit their lifestyles and needs, secure in the knowledge that they can fall back on the support and expertise that a Control4 dealer-managed system offers. It represents freedom, but also a safety net. It unlocks personal customisation capabilities for one of the most advanced control solutions on the market, in a way that virtually anyone can comprehend. And best of all, it allows homeowners to tinker and experiment, without fear that they’ll do any lasting harm to their advanced home control and entertainment solution.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-41635516

1. Make tasks more convenient: Many tasks that are repetitive in nature can be accomplished automatically or with fewer steps using home automation. Instead of turning off or dimming four different lights when you want to watch a movie, home automation allows you to accomplish this task with one button.

2. Save money on utilities: Utilities can amount to hundreds of pounds per month. Home automation can turn off lights or lower the thermostat automatically when you aren’t using them and easily lower your utility bills by 10% to 25%.

3. Increased home safety: Many accidents happen in the home because of poor lighting. Home automation can automatically turn lights on in closets, stairways, and other dark places when you enter and decrease the chance of accidentally tripping or running into things.

4. Home security: Although home security is a priority for everyone, high installation cost or monthly monitoring charges make security systems cost prohibitive for many homeowners. Home automation provides an inexpensive solution to home security.

5. Good for the environment: In a time when we are all becoming more environmentally aware, home automation provides a good solution to help preserve our natural resources.

Home automation products can reduce power consumption and automatically turn off lights and appliances when they aren’t in use.

6. Peace of mind: Never again worry about your home while you’re away. Using home video cameras and an Internet connection, you can check on the status of your home or kids from anywhere in the world using a PC or web-enabled phone.

7. Learning experience for children: Technology is here to stay and the more your children learn about upcoming technology the better prepared they are for the future. Turn your home into a classroom, as your home automation projects become a learning experience for your children.

8. Something the whole family can enjoy: A family that plays together, stays together. Although home automation is all of the above, most of all it’s a lot of fun for the entire family. You will find home automation will bring the family closer together as everyone learns about the technology’s capabilities together.

So why not give AGW Technologies a call to find out how home automation can help to enhance your life and save you money.

Unfortunately standard routers, even ones with SPI are no longer good enough to fully protect all your connected devices. Fortunately though the security world has started to wake up to the need for better protection for home users and their devices, this has led to the development of next generation secure routers which are specifically designed for IoT world and use firewall technology which has been developed and perfected in the enterprise corporate world over many years. Well known security companies like Norton and Bitdefender have already released a new “secure” routers to the market and more are on the way. AGW Technologies has the knowledge and expertise in network security and the next generation secure home routers, so why not give us a call and find out how we can ensure all your devices have the maximum level of protection from would be hackers.

Want to know more, click on the links below:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-38415067

https://uk.norton.com/core

https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/bitdefender-box-2/