Menu

M2M FEATURE NEWS

How Secure is Your Privacy in the Age of the Internet of Things?

By Michelle Nicolson March 21, 2014

Your refrigerator knows you are out of milk. The thermostat lowers the heat automatically when no one is in the house. A pacemaker sends updated medical information to the doctor’s office. It’s the Internet of Things (IoT), and it’s a market full of both unknown possibilities and unidentified challenges.

A device that is capable of communicating with other devices without human assistance raises new questions about security and privacy. Because if you aren’t the one physically controlling what your device is doing, it opens the possibility that it might reveal things you’d rather stay private. Or even worse, give hackers new avenues to steal personal information or cause harm to others.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is charged with determining with determining the fine line between information sharing and information oversharing. The agency already has the general authority to investigate any company that engages in harmful or deceptive practices. The question remains if this type of technology requires new regulations because it is still evolving.

“It is vital that government officials like myself approach new technologies with a dose of regulatory humility,” said Maureen Ohlhausen, FTC member, during an agency’s panel discussion about this very subject last November. The general consensus of that FTC panel discussion was new rules could have unintended consequences.

“I think regulators need to be very careful and allow markets to develop, not try to guess where it’s going to go because they’re probably going to be wrong,” said Robert McDowell, a former FCC member.

Not that the private sector is unconcerned, of course. Product developers are well aware that any security issues could result in a consumer backlash. But corporates are hesitant to recommend more rules.

“Technology is moving faster than regulation,” said Robert Pepper, vice president for global technology policy at Cisco Systems, network equipment developer. “You can have a very serious negative impact if you regulate prematurely or in the wrong ways.”

However, the FTC isn’t waiting too long. It’s already logged the first complaint about an IoT device—the citation of TRENDnet, a home security equipment manufacturer, for poor security and false promises in 2013. The company’s security camera feeds were available on the Internet, exposing the personal lives of unsuspecting customers.

"The exposure of sensitive information through respondent's IP cameras increases the likelihood that consumers or their property will be targeted for theft or other criminal activity, increases the likelihood that consumers' personal activities and conversations or those of their family members, including young children, will be observed and recorded by strangers over the Internet. This risk impairs consumers' peaceful enjoyment of their homes, increases consumers' susceptibility to physical tracking or stalking, and reduces consumers' ability to control the dissemination of personal or proprietary information," the complaint states.

But the TRENDnet case is just the tip of the iceberg. In the age of identity theft, what information can your refrigerator give a hacker? What happens if a device goes rogue and someone gets hurt? Who is responsible if the perpetrator is a machine?

It’s a question both the FTC and the corporate world will have to face as the market evolves. Industry leaders are already debating the best ways to keep information secure.

“Companies should encourage a skeptical culture in which intellectually diverse groups from different product teams review one another’s designs and give feedback about flaws, including those that affect security,” said Chris Clearfield, a principal at SystemLogic, in a Harvard Business Review blog post. “One particularly useful approach is to designate internal specialists or external experts as devil’s advocates and make it their job to independently review, test and try to break existing systems.”




Edited by Rachel Ramsey
Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. [Free eNews Subscription]

IoTevolutionworld Contributing Writer

SHARE THIS ARTICLE
Related Articles

Beyond the Closet, Connecting to IoT

By: Gary Audin    11/11/2020

Two challenges arise when considering cable based IoT.

Read More

Banyan Security Enhances Secure Remote Access for Engineering Resources

By: Ken Briodagh    10/27/2020

Banyan's Continuous Authorization Can Grant or Revoke Access to Sensitive Engineering Environments and Applications in Real-time Based on TrustScore

Read More

Senet Eyes RAN Partnerships as Key to Delivering Network Services for Massive IoT

By: Arti Loftus    10/21/2020

To meet the challenges that come with providing network connectivity for IoT solutions, Senet is executing a strategy for massive IoT that will be bui…

Read More

mimik Selected by 5G Open Innovation Lab to Drive Early Adoption of 5G

By: Ken Briodagh    10/15/2020

mimik's patented Hybrid Edge Cloud platform will boost the performance and reduce the cost of 5G Networks

Read More

5G Sets New Standards for Vertical Industries' IoT Connectivity

By: Special Guest    10/13/2020

As 5G rolls out across the world, vertical industries across IoT are working on additional standards to make the technology suitable for their industr…

Read More