Security researchers have discovered a glaring security hole that exposes the home network password of users of a Wi-Fi-enabled video doorbell. The issue underlines how default configurations of IoT components can introduce easy to exploit security holes.

The Ring allows punters to answer people knocking on your door from your mobile phone, even when you’re not at home. The kit acts as a CCTV camera, automatically activating if people approach your door, letting homeowners talk to visitors, delivery couriers and so on. There’s an optional feature that allows the kit to hook up to some smart door locks, so users can let guests into their home even when they aren’t in.

As a driver of technical innovation for a software company, a huge part of my job depends on forecasting how current tech trends will play out, merge, dissipate or expand.

Here are some of my predictions of what the world will look like in 2020. The notions of ownership will be revised. We’ve recently seen a huge rise in the sharing economy; not only can you stay in someone else’s house via Airbnb, but you can sail in someone else’s boat through Sailo, fly in someone else’s private plane via OpenAirplane and go snowboarding with someone’s else’s board via Spinlister. This is only the first wave.

Hackers have come after your phone, your computer, and your car. Now hackers are coming after your home refrigerators, Smart TVs, and eventually KETTLES.

Yes, your kettle turns out good for more than just heating up water or making coffee for you– they are potentially a good way for hackers to breach your wireless network. A security researcher at PenTest Partners has managed to hack into an insecure iKettle and stolen a home's Wi-Fi password. Besides boiling water, the iKettle can connect to a user's home Wi-Fi network. It also comes inbuilt with an Android and iOS app that allows the user to switch on the kettle and boil the water from other location.

Vint Cerf is known as a "father of the Internet," and like any good parent, he worries about his offspring -- most recently, the IoT. The Internet of Things will offer the ability to manage many of the appliances we depend on, acknowledged Cerf, who won the Turing Award in 2004.

With its ability to continuously monitor such devices, it also promises new insight into our use of resources, he said. As with so many technological tools, however, there are plenty of potential downsides. Safety is one of them. Cerf is now vice president and chief Internet evangelist at Google, but you won't find him enjoying any of the massage chairs the company provides for its employees.

Owners of Internet-connected home security systems may not be the only ones monitoring their homes. A new HP study found that 100 percent of the studied devices used in home security contain significant vulnerabilities, including password security, encryption and authentication issues.

Home security systems, such as video cameras and motion detectors, have gained popularity as they have joined the booming Internet of Things market and have grown in convenience. Manufacturers are quickly bringing to market connected security systems that deliver remote monitoring capabilities.