IoT security concerns for connected devices in consumer’s homes continue to create a stir. With hackers taking aim at weak security protocols, connected devices from baby monitors, smart refrigerators and other seemly docile devices are ripe for malicious activity. Security concerns for connected devices will continue as the number of such IoT devices is expected to exceed mobile phones in 2018, with an estimated 18 billion IoT devices in use by 2022.
In the U.S., new legislation was proposed titled, “The Cyber Security Act of 2017“, to specifically improve security for connected consumer devices. In addition to legislation, a number of companies are creating at-home “smart firewalls” hardware-based devices.
As the article referenced below states,
Smart firewalls are hardware-based devices that can do a better job of managing lots of devices than a typical software firewall. The “smart” portion of the device analyzes your network traffic in real time to identify threats or suspicious activity, block them and notify you of the activity.
These smart firewalls are in early development and as with most consumer devices. ease of use is paramount in order for wide-spread adoption to occur. However, it is important that the IoT industry continues to find ways to control security concerns for connected devices. Ideally, if IoT designers and manufacturers can take IoT security seriously then the industry as a whole can lower the government’s involvement. As IoT drives innovation at an accelerated pace, increasing security fears and actual breaches could force the government to demand stricter compliance.
