A smart camera, plug, or speaker is, underneath the marketing, a small computer connected to the internet, running software that you'll almost certainly never think about again after the initial setup. That's precisely the problem — a device you've stopped paying attention to is a device whose vulnerabilities you've also stopped tracking.
Start at setup, not after
Change the default password immediately. Many smart devices ship with a default admin password that's identical across every unit of that model — publicly documented in manuals and easily searched online. If you haven't changed it, it isn't really protecting anything.
Register the device and enable automatic updates where the option exists. Firmware updates patch security vulnerabilities as they're discovered, and a device that never updates keeps every vulnerability it shipped with, indefinitely.
Use a separate network for smart devices, if your router supports a guest network. This means that if one smart device is ever compromised, it can't act as a stepping stone to reach your laptop, phone, or anything else with more sensitive data on it.
Cameras specifically deserve extra care
A compromised smart camera is a different category of risk from a compromised smart plug — it can expose live footage of your home. Check the manufacturer's reputation before buying (a well-known brand with a track record of security updates is worth the extra cost over an unbranded budget option), and if a camera has a physical shutter or cover, use it when the camera isn't actively needed.
Voice assistants and what they're actually recording
Smart speakers listen for a wake word continuously, by design, in order to work at all. Review the privacy settings for what gets stored and for how long — most platforms let you delete voice history periodically, and some let you opt out of storage entirely at a small cost to some features.
The devices people forget about
Smart TVs, robot vacuums, and even some smart light bulbs connect to your home network and get updated far less often than a phone or laptop, mostly because nobody thinks to check. A periodic look at everything connected to your home Wi-Fi — most routers show a list of connected devices — is worth doing occasionally, if only to notice something that shouldn't still be there, like a device from a previous home or a guest who's long since left.
When a device reaches end of life
Manufacturers eventually stop supporting older smart devices with security updates. A device that's stopped receiving updates is accumulating unpatched vulnerabilities every month it stays connected. If a device is genuinely end-of-life, moving it off your network — or replacing it — is a more reliable fix than hoping it stays unnoticed.
The short version
Treat every smart device the way you'd treat a laptop: change the default password, keep it updated, and don't give it more network access than it actually needs. The convenience these devices offer is real — it just shouldn't come with an assumption that "smart" means "secure by default," because it usually doesn't.