this post was submitted on 09 Nov 2023
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Security considerations of WiFi vs Zigbee for self-hosted IoT (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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Hi everyone. Before anything else, I would like to mention that I do not plan to expose absolutely anything to the internet other than using a VPN, and that's if necessary.

Now, if I understand it correctly, ZigBee compatible devices need a controller attached to the computer to decipher messages? Since we are talking about security, it seems that the ZigBee network has its own encryption technology.

Coming to WiFi which was my original plan, we have established protocols like WPA2. I had intended for all of my IoT devices to be locked in a separate VLAN with no external access.

Which one of them do you think is better for privacy and longevity? I am going to use the basics such as lights, temperature/motion sensors (would like to flash with custom firmware like Tasmota if possible) - alongside some custom devices, which would also be programmed from scratch (ESP32 based). The problem I have with the devices from the latter proposition is that I have to keep on top of security trends myself, but I suppose that's the trade-off one makes with custom devices.

Please tell me what you use at home and why, between Zigbee and WiFi?

Thanks

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

My apologies, I needed to read up on the encryption that ZigBee uses a bit more. I have confidence that anyone snooping on the RF emanating from my flat will very likely not be able to decrypt ZigBee traffic (for that network will likely contain sensitive information). Some of my devices will likely transmit close to all the time (humidity sensor for a plant, for example), I'm hoping such traffic can mask the other more sensitive traffic, like of infrared sensors set up to react to opening the door, as an example.

Can I use ZigBee at another frequency than 2.4Ghz? I noticed that the US has another operational frequency for ZigBee but I don't see it discussed very often