What you need to know
- Google today shared new security commitments for Nest-branded devices.
- The company promised to continue investments in security research, as well as ship future Nest devices with adherence to third-party security standards.
- It also promised to roll out updates to Nest devices for up to 5 years from launch.
Google today announced that it would be supporting Nest-branded devices like the Nest Mini, Nest Audio, and Nest Thermostat for up to 5 years after launch as the company commits to tightening up security for the smart home line. The move was accompanied by several additional commitments Google made to owners of Nest products as it attempted to shed light on how it was keeping users safe.
Ryan Campbell, Product Manager at Google Nest, said in a blog post:
Our new security commitments include standards Google has long held as well as updates that are specific to Nest's connected home devices and services. Finally, we want to acknowledge the way this technology is evolving — for example, our recent announcements on Matter and our work on Project Connected Home over IP. That's why we've updated a small section in our privacy commitments to better reflect our focus on openness.
Aside from the five-year commitment, Google also promised to validate Google Nest devices on third-party standards, citing those published by the Internet of Secure Things Alliance. It already claims to have done so with all Nest devices launched after 2019, so this is more of a case of continuing what it had been doing.
Alongside third-party standards adherence, Google also highlights verified boot on all Nest devices after 2019. This prevents the Nest from booting if the software has been tampered with. The tool also ships on the best Chromebooks, so Google is pretty confident with this.
Finally, Google will also keep investments in bug bounties to encourage security researchers to try and expose bugs in Nest devices so that Google can address them. This backs up the 5-year promise where Google says it'll be rolling out critical security updates to Nest devices for up to five years after launch.
As Google notes, all these improvements mean nothing if your account is compromised. The company highlighted its support for account protection features such as suspicious activity detection and points users to the "device activity page" so they can keep track of all currently signed-in Nest devices.
Small but mighty
The Nest Mini is cheap, unobtrusive, and a great starter for your investment in a smart home. Oh, and it's pretty good a the whole speaker business too.
