August WiFi Smart Lock

Wi-Fi

Review date: Nov. 2, 2020

Mozilla says

People voted: Somewhat creepy

This smart lock from August connects to WiFi, which means you can lock and unlock your door from anywhere. Visiting Grandma and need to check and make sure you locked up your house? Just open the app and check the door status. You can also give guests virtual keys and keep track of who comes and goes at your abode. It works with Alexa and Google Assistant. Is it safe and secure? As with anything with a constant connection to the internet, there are vulnerabilities. And what happens when your WiFi goes down or you lose your phone? You or your guests could be locked out and out of luck.

What could happen if something goes wrong?

Security researchers found a vulnerability in a version of August's smart locks that use the Connect add-on to connect to WiFi that could let hackers take over your home WiFi. Fortunately, this smart lock comes with the WiFi built-in and doesn't seem to be vulnerable to this security threat. This is a good reminder that smart locks bring convenience and some added layer of security in that you can track who comes and goes from your home and give temporary access to people like your babysitter and then revoke that access after a set period of time. But smart locks also come with some additional security concerns. August doesn't sell user data, which is good. Still, it wouldn't be any fun to get locked out of your own home because of a security flaw in your smart lock.

mobile

Can it snoop on me?

Camera

Device: No

App: Yes

Microphone

Device: No

App: Yes

Tracks location

Device: No

App: Yes

What can be used to sign up?

What data does the company collect?

How does the company use this data?

If you enable the auto-unlock feature, location information will only be stored on your device. August does not sell your personal information.

How can you control your data?

You can request that data be deleted.

What is the company’s known track record of protecting users’ data?

Needs Improvement

Older versions of the August Smart Lock that pair with the August Connect may make your Wifi network vulerable to hackers. August was notified about the vulnerability in December 2019, but may not have fixed the problem. August implies that this problem is low risk.

Can this product be used offline?

User-friendly privacy information?

Links to privacy information

August Privacy Policy

Does this product meet our Minimum Security Standards?

Yes

Encryption

Yes

Data is encrypted in transit.

Strong password

Yes

Security updates

Yes

Manages vulnerabilities

Yes

August accepts reports of vulnerabilities through [email protected], and engages respectfully with researchers, remediates the associated vulnerabilities, and assists them in publishing their findings.