The smart home is often idealized as a domestic paradise — with a kitchen and fridge that can order groceries for you, robot vacuum cleaners, lights and heating you can control from your phone, and web-enabled entertainment in every room. Beneath the surface of this always-on, seamlessly connected image, however, lie significant concerns about privacy and cybersecurity. These concerns were dramatized in the Season 2 premiere of the cyber-drama ‘Mr. Robot’, which showed a character’s smart home getting hacked: the TV and stereo are switched on and off randomly; the water temperature in the shower goes from boiling to freezing, and the air conditioning is switched to Arctic temperatures, forcing the character to leave. So was this scenario a case of art imitating life? Just how close to reality was it? Too close to comfort, in fact. Back in 2013, reporters at Forbes described how they were able to get remote control of a smart home , enabling them to manipulate lights and water service...