Quote:
Originally Posted by Fuzz
What if they know you are away and turn it off in the dead of winter?
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Those are people who just want to watch the world burn. You cannot protect nor negotiate with crazy people like that and it's unlikely you'd legitimately run into someone like this. The thermostat also has "safe temperatures (min and max)" built in, so you can't set it to literally be completely off without frying the unit on purpose to accomplish that.
Hackers are typically trying to make a buck. On a smart thermostat, you pull it off the wall, reset to factory settings and you're in the clear. It's not like you'd be held hostage for irreplaceable files they've encrypted.
Now here's the thing. If stuff failed in the middle of winter, with a smart thermostat, you could figure that out from your device. Without a smart thermostat, you wouldn't know anyways. Smart devices are awesome for self monitoring when you're away and it's fine to cut corners since you have them, but it probably shouldn't completely replace those 48-72 hour physical checks of your home.