Security of Internet of Things

The security of internet of things is unknowingly pervading our everyday life.  Items that can be remotely accessed for information, turned on to operate, adjust their operation settings, and process into a network are all fraught with vulnerabilities.  Security of internet of things is just becoming news worthy to some and ignored by great majority.

Liabilities for how they are technologically to function could arise.  There are so many different economic sectors that are embracing the nuance of smart items in our life that the security of internet of things has not grasped their to-do-list in their design.  This brings the concern for liability of products and the growth of litigation nuanced in this genre of case law to the forefront.

Unless industries embrace the concern for their items being hacked, government will try to step in and naively create a uniform standard of care out of thin air that would apply to all industries.  Technology and it systemic capabilities across the use of networks are confounding judges, regulators initially thinking of one-size-fits-all approach to the growing problem.  That is a mistake.

The list of issues that comes with the needs for security of internet of things is growing and is comprised of some initial events.   There is the concern with the disclosure of personal and business information.  There is also the concern for the item to be manipulated to malfunction which would cause harm.  Companies have studied the issues and have reported remarkable increases in vulnerabilities. [1]

The greater concern, that which is beyond the vulnerability of disclosure of personal data and intrusions into systems, is the concern over the synergy developing among disparate systems communicating together causing vulnerabilities for grand stand hacking, manipulated international miscommunication, denial of service directives, and data theft to be held hostage for ransom.

The confluence of variables brings the prescription for post haste industry self-regulation and post haste convergence of standards to set addressing the security of internet of things to avoid cataclysmic deluge of product liability suits and to stem the current growth of internet of things hacks.  The mining of personal data would seem minimal at that scale and a common day occurrence from a broad scale perspective of the potential greater vulnerabilities that are ever present with internet synergies among products, etc., trains, automobiles, airplanes, drones, gas meters, gasoline pumps, hospital equipment, etc.

[1] AT&T, Cybersecurity Insights, Vol. 1, October 1, 2015, 458 % increase in internet of things vulnerability scans against internet of things connected devices.

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