How Secure Is Matter? Your Peace of Mind For a Safer Smart Home

Matter was created to help make your smart home simple, reliable, and compatible. But, if you’re like many smart home shoppers, you might be asking one of the most important questions: How safe and secure is Matter?

If you’ve been hesitant when it comes to embracing smart home technologies, because of security and privacy concerns, then you’re not alone. The good news is that Matter was designed to address those exact worries from the ground up.

Matter was built from the very beginning with comprehensive, strong security and privacy protections among its core principles.

Here’s how Matter is built to protect your home, your network, and your data.

Your Smart Home Gatekeeper

Imagine your Matter network is like a private club, with security guards at the front door, keeping the bad guys out.

Before a device is allowed to join the Matter network, it must prove it’s genuine by presenting verifiable identification.

Scanning a unique QR code or entering a special numeric code during a time-limited, user-activated setup process helps to prove you are in possession of the device and prevents a neighbor from adding a device to your Matter network, or accidentally connecting your devices to theirs.

This process ensures that every device joining your network is genuine and certified, and means that Matter establishes a foundation of trust for your entire smart home network.

Local and Secure

Communication between Matter devices happens locally within your home network. An internet connection is not required for Matter devices to connect and communicate with each other, nor for them to be controlled by whatever smart home ecosystem you use. 

This local connection makes your smart home more private, responsive, and more reliable.

Ultimately, you are in control. You decide which smart home platforms and apps are allowed to access your Matter devices and their data.

Built to Last and Evolve

Security vulnerabilities and privacy concerns have always been significant barriers to smart home adoption.

Security threats continuously evolve, so Matter includes features to improve protection not just for now, but for the future as well. 

To help you get the benefits of those updates, Matter allows manufacturers to quickly deliver important security patches and new features, whether through their own apps, or through the smart home ecosystems they’re connected to. This helps your smart home devices stay protected against new and emerging threats, and keeps your smart home security stress-free.

By building security and privacy into its foundations, Matter allows you to build and grow your smart home with confidence and security, and the flexibility to choose the devices, apps, and smart home platforms that meet your security and privacy needs. 

Choose what works for you

While all Matter communication is secure and local, your preferred smart home ecosystems or devices may additionally use their own protocols or cloud services to enable advanced features, updates, monitoring, security, or control in and out of the home.

Matter does not limit or control those experiences that are outside of Matter communications. However, by creating a secure, local, interoperable foundation, it gives you more control to choose the devices, apps, and smart home platforms that meet your security and privacy goals.