I could just throw the networked thermostat away (if I had one) and get a replacement (if I still wanted one). It’s probably usually cheaper than paying a BitCoin. I think the bigger risk is having a compromised device running undetected on your network.
I feel like the value-add for IoT products is skewed much more heavily toward the manufacturers and data-aggregators than it is toward the consumer. At some point this will probably change.
