home-assistant.io/source/_docs/configuration/securing.markdown

title	description	redirect_from
Securing	Instructions on how to secure your Home Assistant installation.	/getting-started/securing/

One major advantage of Home Assistant is that it's not dependent on cloud services. Even if you're only using Home Assistant on a local network, you should take steps to secure your instance.

Checklist

Here's the summary of what you must do to secure your Home Assistant system:

• Configure secrets (but do remember to back them up)
• Regularly keep the system up to date

Remote Access

If you want secure remote access, the easiest option is to use Home Assistant cloud. Other options are to use TLS/SSL to expose your instance to the internet, use a VPN, Tor or an SSH tunnel.

Extras for manual installations

As well as the above we advise that you consider the following to improve security:

• For systems that use SSH set PermitRootLogin no in your sshd configuration (usually /etc/ssh/sshd_config) and to use SSH keys for authentication instead of passwords. This is particularly important if you enable remote access to your SSH services.
• Lock down the host following good practice guidance, for example:
  • Securing Debian Manual (this also applies to Raspbian)
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Security Guide, CIS Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Benchmark