Abstract. With the rapid development of smart home, it becomes essential to study techniques to safeguard the home area network (HAN) against various security attacks. In this paper, a smart home network simulation testbed has been developed for security research in this area. It is designed to feature high fidelity, cost-effectiveness and user-friendliness. The testbed enables users to specify the HAN network topology, communication protocols and appliances, as well as develop security mechanisms such as information flow tracking. For the evaluation purpose, two security mechanisms were implemented on the testbed and their effectiveness against attacks is studied using the developed testbed.