City Research Online

Abstract

Smart home technologies, like cameras, door locks, and speakers, are increasingly used in our everyday lives. However, their continuous data collection and internet connectivity pose various security risks. While research on smart home security has mainly focused on technological aspects, human experience and societal factors also play a crucial role. Various human and social factors, such as user experience with smart home devices, security design processes, and government regulations, are intertwined and influence each other, affecting smart home security. It is therefore important to understand and consider these interconnected factors in technology design to secure homes that contain increasingly connected devices. This scoping review provides an overview of current human-centered studies (N=102) on smart home security, which aims to help researchers and practitioners better navigate this field. We present a conceptual framework that outlines key challenges in ensuring smart home security with a synthesis of insights on contributing human factors. We then summarize general security design principles and map existing user-centred security approaches in smart homes, and highlight research directions for future investigation. Beyond mapping existing studies, the review reveals a growing emphasis on engaging multiple stakeholders, especially smart home users, in shaping human-centered security.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2025 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons CC-BY license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Publisher Keywords:	Smart homes, Scoping review, Human-centric security, Usable security
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) T Technology > T Technology (General)
Departments:	School of Science & Technology
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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