Linking INSTEON Fixture Modules

[upstatemike]

The security comes from the fact that you have to know the address of the module (read from the sticker). As long as there is no "auto discovery" feature it should not be a serious security issue.

Just curious, how many examples of people hijacking a neighbor's lightswitch have you actually heard about? I don't think it comes up as often as the paranoid security advocates would have you think.

 

[PeterW]

UPB handles this by using a non-metallic pusbutton to enter setup mode for the first time. After that, UPStart handles the rest. Or you can access it via the default network id/device id/password and take it over.

Once you've pressed the setup button once, you never need to do it again. If Smarthome provided the so-called 'INStart' tools, then the same would work nicely for Insteon too.

FWIW: A table-top controller to kick the device into linking mode based on device ID is no more insecure than allowing random devices to read/write to their eeprom and link tables. It doesn't change the security aspects. I think its a neat solution to the problem actually.