Erich Kron
Erich Kron, CISO Advisor at KnowBe4, author, podcaster and regular contributor to cybersecurity industry publications, is a veteran information security professional with over 30 years’ experience in the medical, aerospace manufacturing and defense fields. He is the former security manager for the US Army's 2nd Regional Cyber Center and holds CISSP, CISSP-ISSAP, SACP and many other certifications. Erich has worked with information security professionals around the world to provide the tools, training and educational opportunities to succeed in Information Security.
Session
Every cybersecurity pro dreams of the perfect smart home with automated lights, sensors everywhere, dashboards that rival NASA, and a doorbell cam that can predict your partner’s mood. In reality? It gets messy. Automations fire at 3AM, an ESP32 dies whenever someone microwaves popcorn, and suddenly your house is generating more alerts than a misconfigured SIEM.
In this session, Erich Kron shares the wins, fails, and “why is it doing THAT?” moments from building a smart home with Home Assistant, ESPHome, LEDs, and DIY sensors from the depths of the internet. You’ll learn how to design a secure, reliable setup without creating Skynet Lite, the difference between automation and over-automation, which DIY sensors are actually useful (including for chickens), and why segmentation, encryption, and patching matter.
You’ll leave with templates, real-world tips, and enough cautionary tales to keep your home from becoming an IoT haunted house, while building one that works… most of the time.