Your "smart" home devices can easily be hacked

The "smart" home may not be quite as clever as you think.

With the arrival of the so-called Internet of things -- where household items such as thermostats and washing machines and webcams are connected to the global network -- security problems may also be on the rise. A study from security research company Synack found that commonly connected products opened up a host of safety issues. One of the firm's analysts noted it took him only 20 minutes to break into a range of devices, according to GigaOm.

The study comes amid heightened concern about hackers and the vulnerability of everything from credit cards to automobiles. Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) issued a report this month warning about the dangers of hacking attacks against vehicles. In the Synack study, the only device that didn't have a major security flaw was a Kidde smoke detector, which wasn't actually connected to the Internet.

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