Kerry Wan/ZDNET

Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.

As a tech journalist, I am surprisingly hardline about limiting the number of smart and internet-enabled devices in my home. Mostly because I firmly believe that no one should be able to post to social media from their refrigerator , and an oven does not need to integrate Alexa for me to bake a cake.

But another big reason I'm cautious is that the more smart devices you have connected to your network, the easier it is for hackers to access your data. It's a big security risk that's more prevalent than you'd think.

Also: The best VPNs for streaming

While many new smart TVs and internet-enabled appliances offer some level of data protection, whether through a dedicated chipset or integrated malware detection, these measures are at best weak and at worst outright ineffective.…