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A "Public Health" Approach To Internet of Things Security

Posted by timothy on from the for-heaven's-sake-don't-let-them-network dept.

New submitter StewBeans writes: Guaranteeing your personal privacy in an era when more and more devices are connecting our daily lives to the Internet is becoming increasingly difficult to do. David Bray, CIO of the FCC, emphasizes the exponential growth we are facing by comparing the Internet we know today to a beachball, and the Internet of Everything future to the Sun. Bray says unless you plan to unplug from the Internet completely, every consumer needs to assume some responsibility for the security and overall health of the Internet of Everything. He says this might look similar to public health on the consumer side — the digital equivalent of hand washing — and involve an open, opt-in model for the rapid detection of abnormal trends across global organizations and networks.

5 of 48 comments (clear)

  1. I love the idea of connected devices BUT... by rtkluttz · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It will be a cold day in hell before I will accept having to authenticate to a 3rd party outside my network to access or access data that my devices generate on someone elses servers or devices. When I am able to open ports in my own firewall and access my devices and data directly without having to ask someone elses permission then internet of things will be a go for me. Until then I'll be a technically savvy luddite.

    --
    Digital is, by definition, imperfect. Analog is the way to go.
    1. Re:I love the idea of connected devices BUT... by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 2

      Exactly.

      I could see News like in this ... in 2030s:

      "An elder starved to death after his refrigerator got hammered by a DoS (Denial of Service) by hackers and was unable to open the fridge."

      or

      "Hackers are wrecking havoc with consumers as they find their refrigerator keeps turning off and are forced to re-buy all their frozen food. Local supermarkets are staying mum for fear of retaliation."

      And there is the potential of all the EF spectrum "pollution" as all these stupid IoT devices are constantly broadcasting: .. in 2070:

      "Scientists have completed a 30 year study and have found WiFi devices raise the risks of disease statistically significant."

      I'm not saying there *is* a problem, just that there -might- be one after we've had long term uses and studies involved.

    2. Re:I love the idea of connected devices BUT... by mlts · · Score: 2

      I can see the future /. complaints as well:

      "I just bought a fridge, and they demand $25 a month to allow the door to be opened after 9:00 PM, and the ice maker to work 24 hours. I am just tired of watching the same ads for 5 minutes before it allows the door to be opened."

      "My doorbell won't stop playing ad jungles unless I pay $10 a month for the ad free experience."

      "Time to reboot all the light switches. Some botnet got installed and is using them for NarfCoin mining."

      "Just had my health insurance premium double when I tossed the remnants of that pizza in the nuker, and the microwave alerted my ins co to my overquota of sodium this year."

      "Just got fired from my job when my phone relayed to my employer that I was at a friend's house who posted a scathing review on one of their products."

  2. unplug from the internet by turkeydance · · Score: 2

    with this One Weird Trick

  3. Re:Consumers wont... by mlts · · Score: 3, Informative

    When the masses decided on gaming, we went from games like Origin's with new IP every few months, to games that cost ten times as much (if you factor the DLC required) and are the same IP as last year. They decided that waiting a little bit more for a relatively bug-free version of a game isn't worth it, making the game industry with its, "it compiles, ship it!" mantra the de facto standard of today.

    When the masses decided on smartphones, they went from units that had a week of battery life and had a nice slider keyboard (which was quite useful when doing SSH tasks) to error-prone tapping on a touchscreen, and battery life that doesn't last a workday. Yes, newer smartphones are so thin, they only have one side, but so much was sacrificed so that the devices can be thin, as well as run the latest version of real time rendered Chainsaw Crush at 60 FPS. It would be nice to not have as powerful a CPU in return for a phone that can easily fit in a standard pocket.

    When the masses decided on what the Internet looks like, out went newsgroups, mailing lists, Web forums, and IRC. In return, we have Facebook, and Twitter.