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We Must Slow Innovation in Internet-Connected Things, Says Bruce Schneier (technologyreview.com)

Bruce Schneier argues that governments must step in now to force companies developing connected gadgets to make security a priority rather than an afterthought. Schneier made these arguments in his new book titled, Click Here to Kill Everybody which is on sale now. Here's an excerpt from his interview with MIT Technology Review: Technology Review: So what do we need to do to make the Internet+ era safer?
Schneier: There's no industry that's improved safety or security without governments forcing it to do so. Again and again, companies skimp on security until they are forced to take it seriously. We need government to step up here with a combination of things targeted at firms developing internet-connected devices. They include flexible standards, rigid rules, and tough liability laws whose penalties are big enough to seriously hurt a company's earnings.

Technology Review: But won't things like strict liability laws have a chilling effect on innovation?
Schneier: Yes, they will chill innovation -- but that's what's needed right now! The point is that innovation in the Internet+ world can kill you. We chill innovation in things like drug development, aircraft design, and nuclear power plants because the cost of getting it wrong is too great. We're past the point where we need to discuss regulation versus no-regulation for connected things; we have to discuss smart regulation versus stupid regulation.

Technology Review: There's a fundamental tension here, though, isn't there? Governments also like to exploit vulnerabilities for spying, law enforcement, and other activities.
Schneier: Governments are certainly poachers as well as gamekeepers. I think we'll resolve this long-standing tension between offense and defense eventually, but it's going to be a long, hard slog to get there.

140 comments

  1. Click Here to Kill Everybody by 110010001000 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I give the book five stars based solely on the title.

    1. Re:Click Here to Kill Everybody by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Sounds like a book Bender would write...

  2. As a libertarian by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I strongly disagree. You should do your own research and refuse to buy inferior products. If you get hax0red its your own fault for buying crap from china and not securing your own equipment

    1. Re:As a libertarian by sinij · · Score: 1

      Your views fail to account for externalizing costs of bad security. Your lack of security is also resulted in a botnet used to attack me. So if you get hacked, and your IoT junk is used to attack me, then you also should be liable for this attack. Only this could be considered a coherent libertarian view.

      However, this is rather draconian and could end up ruining you. Instead, mandating baseline level of security and on-going support is by far less intrusive and disruptive approach.

    2. Re:As a libertarian by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As a libertarian, I support arsenic and lead in water. If you choose to not use this water which is perfectly usable for washing and industrial use by the way you should contract with another water distribution company or fetch your water from elsewhere.

    3. Re:As a libertarian by Coisiche · · Score: 1

      What about being a victim of collateral damage through someone else buying inferior products?

      Sure, liability lawsuits could be flung around but if we take the title of Schneier's book at face value then it's going to be your estate rather then you pursuing that legal action which does seem to lack any degree of personal satisfaction.

    4. Re:As a libertarian by tepples · · Score: 1

      What steps should a city take to efficiently open the city's rights of way to multiple water distribution companies?

    5. Re:As a libertarian by gweihir · · Score: 1

      You do not understand the problem. If the damage were just on your side, that would be fine. But the vast majority of the damage is to others and the infrastructure and your approach is therefore a complete fail.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    6. Re:As a libertarian by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As a libertarian, I strongly support a factory like Union Carbide's in Bhopal going bang next to you.

      (captcha: erasable; how appropriate!)

    7. Re:As a libertarian by gweihir · · Score: 1

      Well, just shows that stupid, short-sighted libertarianism is not a good idea at all.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    8. Re:As a libertarian by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      It's a bit like drunk driving. If you could only kill yourself, I'd actually gift you a bottle of gin to ensure your demise, but unfortunately, you more likely harm innocent bystanders that cannot even avoid becoming your victim.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    9. Re:As a libertarian by gweihir · · Score: 1

      Excellent comparison.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    10. Re:As a libertarian by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You should do your own research and refuse to buy inferior products. If you get hax0red its your own fault for buying crap from china and not securing your own equipment

      As a different libertarian, one of the things I've learned is that most people disagree with me.

      That is, most people decide against doing research, and they prefer to buy inferior products. They get hax0red and it's their fault. But you know what else? Even though it's their fault, somehow it's everyone's problem. It's even my problem, and I have no recourse to do anything about it.

      I am starting to think that libertarianism only works within a group of libertarians. If you wanna get all extreme/silly and Randite about it, it's why John Galt could live fine in Galt's Gulch, but his life in America was shit.

      You ever read any John Maynard Smith? No, that's not the name of some economist, as much as his name sounds like one. ;-) He was an evolutionary biologist. (Aha, so maybe he was an economist after all!) One of the more brilliant things things he introduced in the early 1970s was the idea of "Evolutionarily Stable Strategies" (which you probably read about in Dawkins' The Selfish Gene). You have a population consisting of a variety of competitors who are all using their own strategies, and you apply game theory to those strategies to see how well they work out. Some die (either of starvation or predation) and some succeed and reproduce. Depending on the strategies and weights, over the long run the population eventually stabilizes to some ratio of the various strategies, though some of them might end up at zero (failure).

      I think if over half of Americans were libertarian, libertarianism could work and would stabilize at over half (maybe at close to bing a population of all libertarians?). But libertarians are a minority, and the rest of the population are in a much more happy equilibrium, which is also fairly stable. (Though I realize that calling things "stable" is more of my pre-Trump opinion. I can't figure out if having lying weak sack-of-shit demented childish pussy president is the new normal, or just an anomaly right now. But let's ignore that for now and pretend it's 2015.) I don't think libertarians work right in their society, and there are lots of legitimate reasons why our numbers don't grow.

      Being personally responsible for your computer's security is one of them. It doesn't matter if you think (and that you're right!) that someone's decision to run malware is their fault. As per our society's policy, it's definied as being nobody's fault. Getting hax0red is considered an act of god. This probably outrages you, but you're not in charge. So your insurance premiums go up. Your prices go up. Nobody gives a fuck what is whose fault. You're stuck in the same economy as everyone else.

      It is for that reason, that it might make sense to draw your loaded gun, point it at someone's face with the intent to possibly kill, and say "secure your system or else." And that is what Law is. That's what governments are for.

    11. Re:As a libertarian by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There is nothing anti-libertarian about holding companies liable for damages they inflict on people

    12. Re:As a libertarian by lgw · · Score: 2

      OP is really an economic anarchist, not a libertarian. Libertarians accept that the government has an important, if small, role in maintaining a stable market: policing, contract enforcement, fraud enforcement, standardizing weights and measures, that sort of thing. Basic product safety falls under that umbrella - it's fraud enforcement for the things everyone assumes about products even if their not printed on the label.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    13. Re:As a libertarian by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You'll need a series of tubes.

    14. Re:As a libertarian by Aristos+Mazer · · Score: 1

      Galt's life in the Gulch was awful -- no janitors, secretaries, or others content to operate at the level life gave them. He took only high achievers into utopia, and as a result spent most of his time preparing food, cleaning, and other survival tasks. But he did have stimulating conversations with his other high achievers about how to design an education program for a high-achieving menial. And so he wrote Brave New World, later published under the pen name "Aldus Huxley".

    15. Re:As a libertarian by Aristos+Mazer · · Score: 1

      Now... more serious than my last reply.
      I'm good at computer security, competent enough to protect my home and ask probing questions before questionable devices are allowed on my home network. For some devices, I run a separate home network.

      I know nothing about medical insurance. I am minimally competent at financial investing, but I certainly don't have the time to research all the options my 401K plan offers. I pay experts to identify good products for me. That is in keeping with the libertarian ethos.

      The problem is that it is expensive. I cannot afford to pay experts for all the services required of modern life. Cannot. Which police force should I hire to protect my home? Which energy company should I be using? Which currency should I be using? Which medicines are safe? Which restaurants are doing a good enough job with health safety that I can risk eating there?

      Government exists for force compliance so that everyone, regardless of financial income, has a guaranteed basic standard of living. We do this because none of us can guarantee where we will end up on the financial ladder. It's the great flaw in libertarianism -- that philosophy assumes each of us a) has resources and b) has a choice about whether to fritter those resources away or not. But resources aren't infinite and shit happens -- one major medical bill is all it takes. Suddenly you can't be self-sufficient, and that's either the end of you or the end of libertarianism.

      I know many people who have suffered security breeches who say, "Yes, I should have done more to protect myself." But should is not the same as could. Security costs money. Lots of money. And it is in aggregate cheaper to secure the environment than to secure my corner of the environment. That is what governments are for.

    16. Re:As a libertarian by gweihir · · Score: 1

      OP is really an economic anarchist, not a libertarian.

      Probably. Although with stupid people it is hard to find out what they actually stand for.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    17. Re: As a libertarian by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Lookup: tragedy of the commons

      Fail!

  3. Recalls.... by Luthair · · Score: 4, Insightful

    In the car world if manufacturers make a mistake they can be forced to recall the vehicles. In the device world you can release something and wash your hands of it.

    1. Re:Recalls.... by sinij · · Score: 1

      Because software...

      While 80s came and gone, for some reason special exceptions for software still commonplace. For some reason negligence is acceptable behavior in IT and CS.

    2. Re:Recalls.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      For some reason negligence is acceptable behavior in IT and CS.

      It's because CS doesn't want to be treated as "real" engineering.

      In real engineering, you - personally - sign off on things. Engineers are held responsible if they design a structure that fails even when given the proper maintenance. They are held accountable for what they do. Ditto if you are an EE and you design a circuit deployed in consumer electronics that fails by the millions and burns down houses.

      The software world wants NO accountability. It wants to belch out mountains of shit and then wash their hands of it, because doing it right is "too hard".

      This can ONLY be fixed by legislation which holds software "engineers" accountable for failure. Right now there is zero accountability, which is a recipe for negligence and failure.

    3. Re:Recalls.... by Opportunist · · Score: 0

      If you don't mind computers and software (each) cost about as much as a car, go ahead.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    4. Re:Recalls.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      If you don't mind computers and software (each) cost about as much as a car, go ahead.

      This actually makes much more sense than allowing everyone to attach multiple $20 devices to the global Internet.

      I support your solution completely.

    5. Re:Recalls.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In the car world you often have to sink billions of dollars of investment to create a product and amortize the costs across millions of vehicles. Regulatory oversight in the form of mandated consumer safety recalls don't help much if the company that created the product can just go out of business with no particularly large investment to lose. Easier to regulate the sale of such devices according to safety standards.

    6. Re: Recalls.... by jd · · Score: 1

      Cars are also forced to follow standards, as are aircraft. MISRA and DO-178C + JSF respectively.

      That's part of why they can be forced to recall. There's something to measure against.

      --
      It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
    7. Re:Recalls.... by sinij · · Score: 1

      If you don't mind computers and software (each) cost about as much as a car, go ahead.

      Can you explain what is gained by having cheap insecure computers everywhere?

    8. Re:Recalls.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You know, the tension between software engineering degrees and CS degrees still exist today even after years of work to establish the discipline. It will probably happen eventually like in the rest of the engineering fields, over generations.

    9. Re:Recalls.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you don't mind computers and software (each) cost about as much as a car, go ahead.

      Can you explain what is gained by having cheap insecure computers everywhere?

      Step 1: fine MicroSoft 3x the MSRP of Windows license at retail for every computer that gets hacked running a Windows operating system. Do that
      and MicroSoft will appropriately configure Windows to be secure out of the box, while much harder to initially use; Rather than the Id10t version they ship from the factory. Most windows operating systems can be made significantly more secure than what comes off the installation media.

    10. Re:Recalls.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you don't mind computers and software (each) cost about as much as a car,

      Not that long ago, a high end personal computer was in the same range as a family automobile, at least within a factor of several.

      The average new car price in 1980 was $7000. The Apple Lisa was introduced at a price of $10,000, so it sold for MORE than a midrange automobile.

      Lower tier but powerful home computers were still selling for thousands of dollars, so within a factor of 3 in price of an automobile.

    11. Re:Recalls.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is because the function of a building or a vehicle doesn't change. Computers can compute fucking anything. It is IMPOSSIBLE to have them internet connected and do useful things without unexpected problems arising. Even the best of the best have security flaws all the time. It's impossible. Tell me next time your fucking bridge decides to be a boat instead.

    12. Re:Recalls.... by lgw · · Score: 2

      I think you'll find the problem is not with detail-oriented obsessive nerd writing software, but with managers who yank products out of their hands when they're nowhere near done, and ship them. Make the managers sign off, not the developers.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    13. Re:Recalls.... by Nethemas+the+Great · · Score: 1

      Entertainment value for catastrophe voyeurs.

      --
      Two of my imaginary friends reproduced once ... with negative results.
    14. Re:Recalls.... by Nethemas+the+Great · · Score: 1

      In fairness that's not the software dev's fault. The bridge turning into a boat thing is purely a product of upper management. I do find it strange that software guys are the only ones being forced to make liberal use of fairy dust though. If you hardware guys can help us understand how to achieve rational expectations from management we'd be all over that, and, eternally grateful.

      --
      Two of my imaginary friends reproduced once ... with negative results.
    15. Re:Recalls.... by sinij · · Score: 1

      Actually, most IoT devices are Linux based with a bunch of other OSS bundled in. Why Linux? Because it is free. These IoTs are prone to hacks because they are misconfigured by default, have hard coded credentials, or never patched against known vulnerabilities.

      That is, in 2018 MS has nothing to do with IoT problems... other than ancient Windows XP systems that still sometimes can be found in airports and voting machines. Technically these are now classified as IoT, but they predate the term.

    16. Re:Recalls.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It wasn't a good analogy, but the point I was trying to make is that buildings/structures and most machines are built with a specific task in mind. General computers are built to be able to compute whatever you tell them to. We haven't even considered all of the things that it is possible to compute with a general computer yet, so it is impossible for us to see all of the weaknesses in a given software stack. An engineer might design something with well known materials whose properties haven't changed notably in the last 100 years. They're built to have certain tolerances. In software, we rely on the kernel to do some things, we rely on the userspace programs to do some things. We rarely write the whole software stack so many of the weaknesses in our code actually have nothing to do with us. We're taking something that is as much of an art as a science, and trying to make it behave like there are a certain set of rules that you can follow to make problem-free programs. Those rules don't exist but the few rules we do have are different between each programming language. Bug free software of any complexity to useful either doesn't exist or we wouldn't have the capability to determine if it existed.

    17. Re:Recalls.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There's the ESP8266, is that this one that everyone talks about?

      The ESP8285 is an ESP8266 with 1 MiB of built-in flash, allowing for single-chip devices capable of connecting to Wi-Fi

      [ESP8266 features]
      Processor: L106 32-bit RISC microprocessor core based on the Tensilica Xtensa Diamond Standard 106Micro running at 80 MHz[5]
      Memory:

              32 KiB instruction RAM
              32 KiB instruction cache RAM
              80 KiB user-data RAM
              16 KiB ETS system-data RAM

      External QSPI flash: up to 16 MiB is supported (512 KiB to 4 MiB typically included)
      IEEE 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi

              Integrated TR switch, balun, LNA, power amplifier and matching network
              WEP or WPA/WPA2 authentication, or open networks

      16 GPIO pins
      (...)

      So, it depends what you call "most" IoT devices. This isn't just routers, cameras and Internet fridges. Some among these categories may look like full fledged computers, up to an Internet fridge running Windows for instance. If "IoT" means a toaster that tweets to tell you you're bread is charred or some random coin-battery operated sensor there's a good chance it might run on a system too small and simple to run Linux.

      There's free stuff for it still https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESP8266
      I don't know much about competitors.
      I learn that the problem of updating firmware on such "crappy" controllers is actually being dealt with!
      https://www.embedded.com/design/prototyping-and-development/4443082/Updating-firmware-reliably
      These things have network access afterall, which is what we need for updates.. It could be better than your old 802.11b modem/router that stayed at the same old linux 2.4.x unless you manually updated it.. But they'll surely be unpatched with poor defaults and all as you say.

      PS : you can run fucking Windows 10 if you throw hardware at it. If IoT is such a failure and people are incompetent I think we'd be better off if it uses it! Microsoft says the minimum specs are ARMv7, 256MB RAM and 2GB storage https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/design/minimum/minimum-hardware-requirements-overview

    18. Re:Recalls.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you don't mind computers and software (each) cost about as much as a car, go ahead.

      Can you explain what is gained by having cheap insecure computers everywhere?

      Ubiquitous consumer tracking. Other than that, nothing at all.

    19. Re:Recalls.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In the car world if manufacturers make a mistake they can be forced to recall the vehicles. In the device world you can release something and wash your hands of it.

      iOS - internet Of Shit :-)

  4. Govt... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    We want you to lock everyone else out of the device - but us! ... so our intrepid developers put 200+ back doors in their devices. One for every government that asked for it,

    With admin names like:
    UnitedStates-BackDoor-KeepOut
    Yemen-BackDoor-KeepOut
    VaticanCity-BackDoor-KeepOut
    Canadia-BackDoor-PleaseKeepOut
    Russa-BackDoor-NothingToSeeHere

    Oh, and the passwords for all the backdoors? - 1-2-3-4-5 No one read the email that said that the Govt's were to change the password to something only they knew when they hacked the device to put their own spyware on it.

    Finally, some I-D-10-T left the spreadsheet for said back doors out on a public Dropbox, Azure, AWS, GoogleDoc,location so that they could work on it from home.

    Seriously, What could possibly go wrong...

    Fred In IT

    1. Re: Govt... by jd · · Score: 1

      That's why you want real standards. DO-178C doesn't have backdoors. If FIPS has a backdoor, the U.S. military would love to know. CERT's secure programming guidelines are decent.

      If anyone adds backdoor clauses, you ignore them.

      --
      It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
  5. They make the same mistakes _again_ by gweihir · · Score: 1

    All the same old tired stupid mistakes are made again in the IoT space. It is really quite stupid.

    --
    Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    1. Re:They make the same mistakes _again_ by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Insightful

      No, logical.

      The people developing IoT devices are not software engineers. They are engineers designing fridges, TVs, stoves and washing machines. And they're even good at that. But they now get the task to add "internet connectivity" to it. Why? Because we have a new checkbox on the cute cards in the stores. You know those cards. The ones that list all the awesome features your appliance has. The ones the customer does not understand but counts how many of those boxes are checked. And if your appliance does not have a check that the other one has, the customer won't buy yours. Because he needs that feature? Hell no. He most likely doesn't even know what the feature is. But the other one has it, so it's "better".

      With this in mind it is easy to understand why every toaster now needs WiFi access. And also why that WiFi access is treated like a gimmick rather than a real feature by its maker. Actually, I'm surprised it works, I wouldn't even dream about asking whether it's secure.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    2. Re:They make the same mistakes _again_ by gweihir · · Score: 1

      They are also engineers that work on a new domain (software) and do not bother to actually learn the established wisdom in that domain. Stupid.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    3. Re:They make the same mistakes _again_ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And they're even good at that. But they now get the task to add "internet connectivity" to it.

      I would say .. not tasked but have their livelihood threatened... loss of stature, loss of pay, upto loss of job for not making it happen. The samething
      attributed to the VW engineers involved in the dieselgate scandle

  6. Innovation is not the problem by drinkypoo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The problem isn't innovation, doing new things is good. The problem is not learning from the old things. The mistakes the IoT vendors are making are all mistakes that have been made before. Looking to the future is positive, so long as you don't ignore the past.

    We don't need to slow down innovation. We need to put more emphasis on history. Ironically this could actually speed up innovation since less time would be spent fighting fires.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    1. Re:Innovation is not the problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      >The mistakes the IoT vendors are making are all mistakes that have been made before
      Guy above you said the same thing.

      I hope you guys realize that line is evidence of a systematic problem, not a problem with the behavior of individuals. System problems aren't corrected by "discipline" to behavior, it takes ridiculous resources and effort to get marginal changes to the base human condition. As a basic example, you don't treat Greed you build around it (ie assume it, even refer to it as "standard market forces") as we have with millions of laws for centuries.

      Assume self-interested companies will continue to act like self-interested companies. Indefinitely. It can't be stopped.

      Now change your recommendations to reflect that.

    2. Re:Innovation is not the problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Too many times our fucking spectrum tech "innovators" and their sociopathic bean chasers never stop to ask if they should or explore the ethical implications (perhaps because they lack the ability to do so) of their actions. Imagine that, a use for the liberal arts after all.

    3. Re:Innovation is not the problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The only problem is millennials severely dislike history and disregard it completely so this is probably why a lot of this is happening.

      They don't look at the history because they were in diapers when it happened. (in many other cases weren't even alive)..

      And the system pushes this state of ignorance and also takes advantage of it to get them to be down for things that are really bad for us and our future.

      Just another case of someone pushing MORE LAWS MORE LAWS MORE LAWS ... when the real answer is to promote LESS STUPID all around.

      Always the case in everything. Look at every issue it's always the case. STUPID laws are the cause of the problem. Liability and the things they're claiming that will make it better are actually the cause of the problem and will only make it worse.

      Think about the nature of kids nowadays. It's illegal to spank them, discipline them. We have a pandemic of entitlement running rampant. It's all because parents don't parent, and the ones that can are afraid of getting thrown in jail for actually being a parent.

      There needs to be an epic scale change in order for things to stop getting worse and for them to start getting better.

    4. Re:Innovation is not the problem by cordovaCon83 · · Score: 1

      Did anyone read Jurassic Park?!?!

    5. Re:Innovation is not the problem by cordovaCon83 · · Score: 2

      Let us blame the 30-year old engineer for not taking the time to address the vulnerability even though it was the 40-year old manager that declined the recommendation because his team wouldn't meet the deadline set by the 50-year old executive who is obsessed with appeasing the 60-year old investors. Government regulation is "corporate spanking" and it's not just the millenials that need a little more discipline applied to them.

    6. Re:Innovation is not the problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Did anyone read Jurassic Park?!?!

      Yes, but I'm not sure why my use of subtitles is important here.

  7. The Singularity will not be postponed by Jadecristal · · Score: 1

    These attempts to postpone the coming technological singularity and save their own... everything will not be successful, and are not acceptable.

    Accelerate.

    1. Re:The Singularity will not be postponed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dammit, when I do finally upload my consciousness into my home thermostat, I don't want anybody hacking it to make me think I'm a chicken. Security!

    2. Re:The Singularity will not be postponed by Aristos+Mazer · · Score: 1

      Specifically a chicken? Would iguana be ok? Our AI's customer opinion research needs to know!

  8. Starts from a false premise by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Schneier: There's no industry that's improved safety or security without governments forcing it to do so.

    This simply isn't true. To take one industry, look at automobiles. Ford put in safety glass and GM was conducting crash tests in the early 1930's before rules were put in place. Ford was marketing a safety package by the mid-50's as well that never really sold well. US regulation on safety really didn't start until the late 50's and early 60's.

    Even in industrial and food safety, market factors (employees unwilling to work, bad press and people unwilling to buy the product) moved safety standards along before governments ever codified them into law. And sometimes regulations have a negative impact on safety by mandating and/or preventing an action that impacts the safety of the person using or making/providing the product/service.

    1. Re:Starts from a false premise by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >companies self-regulate
      lol.

    2. Re:Starts from a false premise by Opportunist · · Score: 2

      Because people noticed that they get killed in death trap cars. Unfortunately, insecure IoT bullshit hurts pretty much everyone BUT the idiot that runs it.

      I still say the drunk driving comparison is apt, usually the asshole wino survives the crash while the pedestrian he mows down does not.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    3. Re:Starts from a false premise by lgw · · Score: 1

      usually the asshole wino survives the crash while the pedestrian he mows down does not.

      Far more drunk pedestrians are killed by sober drivers than vice versa. Pick a different example.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    4. Re:Starts from a false premise by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      They're not the problem, they are at least responsible for it themselves.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  9. Companies Are Lazy. Leverage That. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The simple and obvious fix for IoT security is for a bunch of open source security experts to build something basic and give it away under a free licence. If it's well documented and saves the company having to develop their own, they'll use it. Everyone wins.

  10. Regulation is almost pointless by rickb928 · · Score: 1

    Almost.

    IoT is going to end up a security sinkhole, with devices devoting 2/3 of their code to security, and 1/3 to actual functionality. Unfortunate but necessary.

    But failed security won;y be solved by regulation. Small manufacturers will suffer because when they get it wrong they will be crushed. And consumers will suffer because they will be stuck with failed devices and lost money.

    Ultimately regulation of IoT will look more like rent-seeking than protection, since punishing manufacturers for security failures has, in the past, only resulted in abandonment of failed devices. These things are so simple they are not work fixing most of the time.

    Or will we see future IoT devices that can actually be maintained? Those attractive, simple, cheap-ish things like door locks have so far proven to be unable to be 'fixed' in most cases. I'm not hopeful. But there are going to be successful security models, probably based on local gateways, and will come with fully featured vendor lock-in and captivity to the whole infrastructure that is vendor dependent. Probably unavoidable, since security is a huge problem for everything Internet.

    --
    deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
    1. Re:Regulation is almost pointless by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You may want to rethink what you just said. Security normally reduces lines of code. Clean and maintainable code is the first step to secure code. Clean code tends to be cheaper and more secure. There have been several projects over the past decade to increase the security of different parts of Opensource and many times reduce the lines of code by near 2 magnitudes.

    2. Re:Regulation is almost pointless by rickb928 · · Score: 1

      Adding actual security features to your code inevitably increases code and complexity. It's both unavoidable and necessary.

      Now, best practices in code may help with security. Sure, both efforts are necessary.

      --
      deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
    3. Re:Regulation is almost pointless by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >

      But failed security won;y be solved by regulation. Small manufacturers will suffer because when they get it wrong they will be crushed. And consumers will suffer because they will be stuck with failed devices and lost money.

      Ultimately regulation of IoT will look more like rent-seeking than protection, since punishing manufacturers for security failures has, in the past, only resulted in abandonment of failed devices. These things are so simple they are not work fixing most of the time.

      Just force all the devices to be certified by an independent group... say a special section of Underwriters Laboratory, and the equivalent organizations around the world, that does nothing but certify iot device security combined with a law that prohibits sales of said devices without the appropriate certification.

      I know most of the cheap iot devices around carry no certifications at all....

    4. Re:Regulation is almost pointless by Big+Boss · · Score: 1

      Keep the regulation simple.

      1) Right to repair. They are required to allow users to install updates and repair the devices. Flash is not significantly more expensive than OTP at this point, so cost is not an excuse. If the company chooses not to provide further software updates, they are required to release full source code, schematics, and any keys the user would require to sign it with. Ideally, devices would also include a user-programmable key space so we could also generate our own keys. And then remote disable existing devices until the user fixes it. Sucks, but unmaintained devices are a huge risk. There's no need to landfill them, but we can't allow them to keep running. And yes, this does open a DoS attack, but only on the devices themselves, not all of us. A warning about it for existing users should be mandatory as well, 30 days perhaps?

      2) Liability for breaches. The manufacturer is liable for any and all damages caused by insecurity in their devices for disclosed attacks. Zero-days are probably unreasonable to punish them for here. But if your device is still vulnerable to, say, heartbleed, you deserve it. Your smart lock fails and my house gets robbed, you pay. Management that signs off on it are personally liable. We've all seen cases where the right way would take too long and/or cost too much so the PHB mandates that you not do it properly. Not that I would own a smart lock, but that's beside the point. :)

      Decent security doesn't have to use more code. It would likely use LESS as more code usually means a larger attack surface. 90% of the IoT attacks I've seen are either lack of verification on updates, allowing MITM attacks, or default admin passwords. All are easy and cheap to fix.

      As for small manufacturers being crushed, if they can't do the job properly, they SHOULD be crushed. Evolve or die.

      And even that may not be all that great. It doesn't cover the cheap Chinese imports that come in direct. I don't see any way we can deal with that problem with a US law. Even a UN level setup would likely be no good. And then you get into various schemes to avoid responsibility. So while I see why the idea appeals to people, I don't think it's practical. I still think right to repair should be the law though. At least we could get anything sold by a US company that way. And it would limit the amount of electronic waste as there would be a market for older but still useful gear we could reuse.

    5. Re:Regulation is almost pointless by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Most security holes are not caused by a lack of a security feature, but an improperly implemented non-security feature. It is a fact that most security issues are undocumented features known as "bugs". In my experience, nearly all bugs can be fixed by simplifying the code and removing lines of code. People who don't understand tend to over-complicate and most programmers don't understand.

  11. "Innovation" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    If we're talking consumer applications, most of the shitty IoT concepts aren't innovative in the slightest, they are just slapping a wifi chip onto the side of a pre-existing product. The societal benefit of holding manufacturers responsible for their bugs far outweighs missing out on iteration #48,294 of a networked baby monitor or washing machine.

    1. Re:"Innovation" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Please mod parent up. If internet-connected things were actually bring innovation, then perhaps it was actually be worth the risks of insecure devices. But given that that's not the case, it's just an absurd argument to be made about needing to slow innovation. You know what might help? If more companies were sued for fraud for patently false marketing claiming that what they're doing is innovation. That and holding companies to warranties of fitness of purpose.

  12. IoT devices = In-waiting of Tragedy devices by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 1

    All these IoT devices are just mini time-bombs waiting to go off. When they get hacked / p0wned will politicians FINALLY realize that allowing devices on the internet with none, or very little, security was a bad idea???

    This is why I call Internet-of-Things with a more accurate one: In-waiting of Tragedy

    Because when enough people's fridges, thermostats, stoves, etc. get hacked it will be hell.

    1. Re:IoT devices = In-waiting of Tragedy devices by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When they get hacked / p0wned will politicians FINALLY realize that allowing devices on the internet with none, or very little, security was a bad idea???

      Never. Shifting blame is the definition of politicians' profession

  13. What innovation? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Firstly, there's a difference between "Internet-Connected Things" and "Internet of Things". We had internet-connecting things long before the concept of IoT came around. We had webcams, we even had linux toasters. The promise of IoT is that the experience is seemless, that holistic new functionality and capability emerges far greater than the sum of its parts when devices are imbued with appropriate smarts.

    To that end, there has been no innovation in IoT yet. There isn't even any IoT devices on the market. Not one. There has only been the same old garbage "now with internet". That's not innovation and that's not IoT.

  14. Yet factually incorrect from the first sentence by raymorris · · Score: 4, Informative

    Yep, it's a catchy title. Bruce is generally a smart guy, so I'm surprised to hear him start the interview with a statement that is flat out wrong on the facts. More than that, anyone who knows a little history KNOWS it's wrong.

    "There's no industry that's improved safety or security without governments forcing it to do so.", he began.

    Has Bruce never heard of Underwriters Laboratories (UL listed, UL registered, etc)? Underwriters means insurance companies. That's not government, that's insurance companies offering guidance and an incentive. How about the National Fire Protection Association, which writes the fire codes? That's another safety organization started by insurance companies, and insurance companies wouldn't insure a building unless it met fire code. Later, local governments ALSO said "me to", but the NFPA and fire codes were created by insurance companies, not government.

    The auto companies were advertising safety innovations for half a century before there was any major legistlate. From Dusenberg advertising hydraulic brakes in the 1920s to Ford marketing safety glasses in all its cars in the 1930s to padded dashboards, safety cages, and disc brakes in the 1940s - it wasn't until the 1960s that the government got involved.

    So it's simply factually incorrect, plain wrong, to say "There's no industry that's improved safety or security without governments forcing it to do so". My side gig is pyrotechnics, fireworks. A LOT of what we talk about and work on in the industry is safety, sometimes talking about how to convince the government official to allow us to do things the safer way rather than insisting on outdated procedures, or things that are a bad (dangerous) fit for the situation.

    1. Re:Yet factually incorrect from the first sentence by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

      The goal is to sell books, not be accurate. This is 2018.

    2. Re:Yet factually incorrect from the first sentence by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And, of course, railways. It was competition that made them safer. Old posters show slogans like "we'll whisk you there in a jiffy" vs. "we'll get your basket of eggs there safely - and you, too!" Consumers, sorry, passengers had a choice and preferred the slow, safe way of travel. The risk-taking companies went under, the market had spoken.

      Except none of the above ever happened; it's a legend. Governments usually stepped in after a rail disaster that was so bad, the public wouldn't take it any longer.

      From then on, other industries lived in fear of being regulated, too, and began to install safety features on their own - typically after the fact of some risk and not proactively. Remember the introduction of seat belts? Yeah, that had to be mandated in most countries, too (and the wearing thereof).

      Bruce does have a point.

    3. Re:Yet factually incorrect from the first sentence by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I think you're reinforcing his point. The example you cite the insurance companies created standards to be applied/enforced to the insured. The insurance companies are acting in the same role Schneier wants government to fill against manufacturers. In your example it's not the insurance industry policing itself, it's the insurance industry policing people it's uniquely positioned to enforce policy on. I'm not sure there's another non-governement entity in that same position to enforce policy on the breadth of manufacturers creating internet connected devices today.

      WRT the auto industry, that's the same group that refused to put seat belts in cars, right? The same group that in 1970, 1970!, rejected putting airbags in cars.

    4. Re:Yet factually incorrect from the first sentence by ole_timer · · Score: 1

      homeowner's insurance companies are uniquely positioned to fix this quickly. i get significant discounts from usaa for things like burglar alarms, fire improvements, etc. they can just extend them to iot security. government is not needed or wanted.

      --
      nothing to see here - move along
  15. Proactive vs Reactive by Comboman · · Score: 2
    Government intervention need not be direct. Automotive safety initiatives prior to direct government regulation came mostly at the urging of insurance companies (the ones who lose a lot of money every time there's an accident). Since the government requires car-owners to have insurance, that's an indirect influence.

    Yes, you can find examples of industries that improve safety reactively as a marketing ploy in response to bad press from an unfortunate incident (for example, tamper-proof packaging after the Tylenol poisoning incident in the 1980s). Getting them to do it proactively (i.e. before something really bad happens) generally requires government intervention, and that is what we need here. Also, once the bad press goes away, the safety measures often do as well unless regulations have been updated to require them.

    --
    Support Right To Repair Legislation.
  16. Read only devices! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'd like to see more read-only devices, or a hard switch for read-only. For example, maybe I'd like to know my fridge temperature while away from home to know my medications are safe, but I don't want me or anyone else to be able to adjust the temp or turn it off. I'd like to know when my washing machine or drier is finished, but I don't want me or anyone else to turn it on remotely.

  17. That's called the Clipper Chip by michaelcole · · Score: 1

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... "The Clipper chip was a chipset that was developed and promoted by the United States National Security Agency[1] (NSA) as an encryption device that secured “voice and data messages"[2] with a built-in backdoor. It was intended to be adopted by telecommunications companies for voice transmission. It can encipher and decipher messages. It was part of a Clinton Administration program to “allow Federal, State, and local law enforcement officials the ability to decode intercepted voice and data transmissions."[2] “Each clipper chip ha[d] a unique serial number and a secret ‘unit key,’ programmed into the chip when manufactured."[2] This way, each device was meant to be different from the next. It was announced in 1993 and by 1996 was entirely defunct."

  18. Schneier is a liberal by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He opposes common sence racial profiling.

  19. Security and reliability are areas of innovation t by jd · · Score: 2

    I don't think we have to rely on archaic notions of what is secure. I don't think we need to suffer with medieval concepts of what was reliable.

    It's perfectly reasonable to expect IoT technology to strictly exceed the standards taught in the 1980s, simply because those standards are 40-odd years old. We've learned how to build things better since then.

    The law can reasonably enforce certain standards. There are standards out there, for coding and security. Some, like MISRA, are regarded as correct only in places. But they are published and are used by real people for real projects.

    The obvious solution is to commission the NSF to draw up some core standards, using the existing ones as templates:

    One set of rules for all I/O, probably based on CERT's secure programming and FIPS.

    One set for low-criticality systems, I'd argue 5N reliability is all you need for that.

    One set for high-criticality (medical implants, for example), probably using only vital, universal, elements from MISRA, JSF+ and DO-178C. Emphasis on vital, universal. You don't want rules here that are frivolous or domain-specific.

    One set for split role devices. I'd probably use ideas that are still relevant from the Rainbow Series.

    Such a group may decide that a given set is the empty set. That's fine. That means regulations don't make any sense at that level and that's worth knowing.

    The rules should be minimal, no group should have more than ten rules. I don't think anyone can seriously object to ten rules programmers came up with in the first place.

    By using existing, established, rules, most can be checked automatically, making it a cinch to validate and certify.

    Is it enough? Probably not, but that's not the point. The point is to create a starting point and enforce minimal standards superior to what is currently used but trivial enough to not impose an excessive overhead.

    --
    It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
  20. shared spaces by petes_PoV · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Right now the internet is one big space that every user shares with every other user.

    That is irrespective of whether one user is a grandma trying to email to a relative, an individual buying a product, a city's traffic light network, a government department, a car or a battleship

    This is a ridiculous situation to be in. We segregate road users for their own safety (and that of others) and in order to provide facilities that are appropriate for each type of user. What we don't need is a one-size-fits-all security model. We should be separating out the various forms of network traffic into physically discrete networks. Maybe even to the extent of having multiple networks with little or no cross-over between them.
    This would be especially apt for a break between commercial and non-commercial traffic. Or between government and civilian use. And especially between safety-critical infrastructure and everything else.

    The concept of an "internet" is past its useful life. The whole structure never took security seriously and was designed more around trust than enforcement. It is past time to move a LOT of stuff off the public network and to make it harder for grandma to accidentally email the Pentagon's National Military Command Centre - just like it isn't (I hope) possible for someone to accidentally walk in through its front door.

    --
    politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
    1. Re:shared spaces by thomst · · Score: 2

      https://slashdot.org/~petes_PoV blathered:

      Right now the internet is one big space that every user shares with every other user.

      That is irrespective of whether one user is a grandma trying to email to a relative, an individual buying a product, a city's traffic light network, a government department, a car or a battleship

      This is a ridiculous situation to be in. We segregate road users for their own safety (and that of others) and in order to provide facilities that are appropriate for each type of user. What we don't need is a one-size-fits-all security model. We should be separating out the various forms of network traffic into physically discrete networks. Maybe even to the extent of having multiple networks with little or no cross-over between them.

      This would be especially apt for a break between commercial and non-commercial traffic. Or between government and civilian use. And especially between safety-critical infrastructure and everything else.

      The concept of an "internet" is past its useful life. The whole structure never took security seriously and was designed more around trust than enforcement. It is past time to move a LOT of stuff off the public network and to make it harder for grandma to accidentally email the Pentagon's National Military Command Centre - just like it isn't (I hope) possible for someone to accidentally walk in through its front door.

      I could not more strongly disagree.

      The Internet is a voluntary interconnection between (at this point) millions of private networks. It is only that interconnection that made the staggering revolution in how people in the developed world interact with everything from local government to retailers to social networks to ... well ... virtually every other person, organization, and resource in the modern world.

      What you are describing is, in many ways, not unlike the Internet in the days of NSFnet being the only backbone provider in the USA. Commerical traffic was banned, period. Networks in the .com domain were permitted to use the net only to provide free-of-cost-to-the-user resources for the public. A private individual could only register for a .com domain by providing a statement of the use to which he/she intended to put it. Only netrwork providers could register in the .net TLD. And so on.

      That proved extremely problematic, and, when NSFnet was defunded and went out of business in favor of commercial telecom providers' much-higher-speed backbones, virtually everyone on the 'net cheered. Loudly - because the NSFnet restrictions on content were essentially global constraints, since the USA had by far the largest population of users at the time, so even Europeans had to abide by the prohibitions, because some portion of their traffic would inevitably transit NSFnet.

      You are arguing for an officially-balkanized Internet - a change that would, in every meaningful way, destroy the usefullness of the most important advance in human communication in modern history. Not coincidentally, it would deny the populations of emerging economies the opportunity to interact with the rest of the world, and thereby force them to play technological catch-up with the equivalent of one foot in a bucket.

      There's a well-worn cliché that warns against the class of solutions you suggest to the problem of securing the subset of devices we call the IoT: "Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater."

      As for the insight you display, the H. L. Menchken, the Bard of Baltimore, probably said it best when he observed that "there is always a well-known solution to every human problem — neat, plausible, and wrong ... "

      --
      Check out my novel.
  21. Because heart attack sufferers by jd · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Are in a position to shop between implants, and there's obviously millions of vendors.

    And, of course, stores carry an entire department of wireless routers, not just three boxes between two near-identical vendors who offer no information and have secrecy clauses on everything.

    Find any good OpenBSD-based thermostats on Amazon? Thought not.

    --
    It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
  22. My car alarm would like a word with you by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    You know those pointless noise-maker car alarms? It used to be that only douches have those. When I bought my car in '07 it never occurred to me it would come with one. It did. I never asked for it. They didn't warn me. The damned thing has pissed me off and sent me into a rage on several occasions. I went to the dealer and they said they could fix it when they're security specialist was in, or some bullshit like that. They acted like it was serious business. It's a fucking noise maker that pisses me off.

    Many cars come like this; perhaps all of them. I'm still waiting for the magic of the free market to fix it for me.

    Your libertarian philosophy does NOTHING to defend us against the collective decisions of powerful private interests.

    Let me repeat. NOTHING. I'm not "free to replace google" or "free to replace Honda", because that's an unrealistic goal for almost everybody. For the few who may achieve such things? They are in on the racket.

    The only way for regular Joes like us, the only realistic shot we have, is to regulate those douches.

    Get it through your damned libertarian skulls.

    1. Re:My car alarm would like a word with you by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because you bought the fucking car anyway even with an anti-theft alarm. Just because you're a dipshit and don't look into the features of the cars that you buy, doesn't mean there is a problem with the market. My cars have alarms because I want a fucking alarm.

    2. Re:My car alarm would like a word with you by lgw · · Score: 1

      The point of the market is that it makes mass-market products that most people want, not products that you, personally, want. However stupid you might think popular products are, doesn't matter. That's called "economic efficiency": actually producing what most people actually want to consume, not what someone thinks they should want to consume.

      That being said, you can totally pay someone to kill the alarm. You might not like the price for that, but that's the nature of custom on-off goods and services.

      I hate the current styles of furniture with a burning passion, and the price of custom furniture is eye-watering. How is that anyone's problem but mine?

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    3. Re:My car alarm would like a word with you by lgw · · Score: 1

      *one-off

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    4. Re:My car alarm would like a word with you by BronsCon · · Score: 2

      And his car has an alarm because he wanted a fucking car. Presumably, buying new was a requirement for one reason or another, which limited his options to:
      A) Alarm.
      or
      B) No car.

      --
      APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
  23. We get it APK, you are an antisemite by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We get it Alexander Peter Kowalski, you are retarded and an antisemite. You must have gotten really pissed at losing so badly this week to rage this hard. Maybe instead of repeating your bullshit lies and antisemitic rants you could instead focus on that BSD and OS X port of your slow and bloated file concatenator. If you complete that your parents might stop regretting not aborting you, but likely not. If that doesn't work you could always post some unsigned responses in defense of your self because that might convince your mom to come back and take care of her retarded man child of a son.

    1. Re:We get it APK, you are an antisemite by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's not proving what you replied to incorrect! After reading it amazes that jews think you're superior but rhinoplasty cut off your noses oddly trying to be us inferior goyim.

  24. Good riddance to the 'Internet of things' by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Thieves break into financial networks on a regular basis. They pay a lot of people a lot of money to prevent this, but it still happens. There is no one to prevent some 12 year old script kiddie from turning your 'smart refrigerator's' temperature all the way up. No to mention the vastness of security camera botnets and how manufacturers spy through smart TVs...

  25. Air Gap by mea2214 · · Score: 1

    Is it that hard to air gap IoT devices? I'm not concerned about someone hacking into my cameras, you should see all the bullshit those cameras want to send back home. IoT devices will never be secure. Why even fight that battle?

    1. Re:Air Gap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Is it that hard to air gap IoT devices? I'm not concerned about someone hacking into my cameras, you should see all the bullshit those cameras want to send back home. IoT devices will never be secure. Why even fight that battle?

      Yes.. LG puts the wifi in a location that you can't get to without completely dissembling the entire device and they did this after they realized the people were removing the wifi card or clipping the antenna on the previous design.

      Neighbor of mine bought a new washer/dryer pair got it home (entire house wired for internet, no wifi in the house), and neither unit would work. Service guy came out and the first question he asked was "Did you configure the wifi?" When they responded that they had no wifi, the service tech told them to old a wap from amazon and call him when it was installed. Clear indication that the pair won't even work if you don't have wifi in you home.

      So how do you air gap that?

  26. I Call BS by TomGreenhaw · · Score: 2

    >There's no industry that's improved safety or security without governments forcing it to do so.
    How about PCI (Payment Card Security Standards)? This is one of many examples where industry has self imposed security standards without being forced by government.

    I personally advocate a happy medium on regulation, but that statement seems to demand the creation of a police state and I have to speak out against that horrible idea.

    --
    Greed is the root of all evil.
    1. Re:I Call BS by FlamingGuts · · Score: 1

      That's an excellent example. Shame on this author and those supporting further government interference with innovation. If people want secure tech, companies will be happy to sell them that.

    2. Re:I Call BS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Have you implemented PCI with a merchant? It basically comes down to "what the QSA says". The standards are so vague that they're difficult to fit to processes. It's a certification process ripe for corruption and malfeasance. People don't try to work around PCI compliance because "it's hard" so much as because the goalposts are continuously moving which doesn't make it so much "hard" as costly, time-consuming and error-prone.

    3. Re:I Call BS by mvdwege · · Score: 1

      PCI only exists because by law credit card issuers are liable for the costs of fraud.

      --
      "I know I will be modded down for this": where's the option '-1, Asking for it'?
    4. Re:I Call BS by ole_timer · · Score: 1

      no it does not depend on government regulation. it reduces fraud. it's competitive. go away government. we need smarter consumers. we need people to stop saying "...it's beyond me..." well then get someone smart!

      --
      nothing to see here - move along
    5. Re:I Call BS by mvdwege · · Score: 1

      Yes it does. It was the credit card industry that came up with PCI, not the banking industry. Guess which industry can, by law, fob off fraud losses onto its customers?

      Really, you libertards really are that stupid. Even if there is empirical data staring you in the face that regulatory pressure led to industry action, you still persist in putting your fingers in your ears and going 'Lalalalaaa, I can't hear you!!11!'.

      --
      "I know I will be modded down for this": where's the option '-1, Asking for it'?
    6. Re:I Call BS by ole_timer · · Score: 1

      who do you think pays for shrinkage? the consumer, always has, always will.

      --
      nothing to see here - move along
    7. Re:I Call BS by ole_timer · · Score: 1

      btw - what was PCI DSS called before it was PCI DSS and who came up with that? hint, it pre-dated any law

      --
      nothing to see here - move along
  27. Bruce is... by blahplusplus · · Score: 2

    ... largely in denial.

    Regulation is not going to stop anything in a nation that worships corporations. It's in too many big companies interest to spy on everyone and remove their ability to own their own software. Mere regulation isn't going to help jack squat. The best security is not to have software and hardware unnecessarily connected to the internet for instance.

    If we were really interested in security drm would not be a thing and all game would be be able to be playable offline. The best security is not to put it on the net in the first place. Too many big companies have too much power and mere regulation is not going to do jack shit in government that is bought and owned by corporations. Like the man wasn't paying attention to the bail outs of the big banks in 2008 or the last 40 years of repeals of various acts that were designed to protect the public.

    1. Re:Bruce is... by ole_timer · · Score: 1

      yeah, bruce is definitely a moron on this (and most things come to think of it) - he may know applied math (cryptography) but not much else.

      --
      nothing to see here - move along
  28. Re:Security and reliability are areas of innovatio by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "The point is to create a starting point and enforce minimal standards superior to what is currently used but trivial enough to not impose an excessive overhead."

    No, the point is to make things secure. Having only minimal standards that don't actually provide a secure environment is what is creating "excessive overhead" for everyone else.

    "We've learned how to build things better since then."

    Actually we haven't. We are still relying on security by obscurity and the notion that if you just create enough overhead to crack code it will remain secure. Potential hackers are much more sophisticated with much better hardware to work with.

    I suspect the real problem is the internet. It was designed to be an open communications network and it got hijacked into serving as an industrial control network. There is really no other reason that our electrical grid management can be accessed from snapchat and vice versa. What we really need are different networks that are physically and operationally separated.

  29. Baseline Security isn't good enough -- Nothing is by shayd2 · · Score: 1

    If all IoTs meet some baseline security on, say, Day 1, new attacks will be found on Day 2 if not before the item ships

    How do you keep your things current with the latest challenges?

    If the manufacturers have hidden paths that allows them to update remotely, that code will just be a new way to hack the device.

    If the manufacturers send you a new plugin with the updated code for your light or refrigerator, you get to fix each each device.

  30. We don't need to quell inovation... by Jastiv · · Score: 1

    We don't need to slow down innovation. We just need the universal understanding that proprietary software in these devices is not acceptable.

  31. Just connected gadgets? by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

    ... argues that governments must step in now to force companies developing connected gadgets to make security a priority rather than an afterthought.

    Banks, anyone? How about fast food joints and places like Target?

    Yahoo!?

    Equifax?

    No?

    OK.

    --
    It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
  32. JUDENS are the problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Khazar Talmudic Jews believe this of all they call goyim/gentiles (any non-jew): Jews = biggest racists of all for which they "jew guilt" you for no less! They're hypocrites known as thieves all thru history or were Argentines in the 1940 under Peron, Spanish inquistion, France (1306), Egypt (despoiled/robbed by jews), Arabs (pre & post 1948), England (1330 Edward longshanks), Romans under titus, Russia pogroms and Germany who got rid of them from their nations nazi german's too? No. Driven into DESERTS ages ago! Don't wonder why after all those exilings above.

    Should anyone doubt any of this see Jacob Javits' crony Rosenthal spill the beans on it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4zMVZ8HnFI/ where he called all Christianity fools for helping Israel and the biggest scam of all time per their beliefs below from their Talmud.

    This is the province of the synagogue of Satan (Pharisees whom Jesus Christ himself kicked to the curb out of the temple & they killed him for it. Jeremiah did the same to them also + the Essenes could not stand them either breaking away from the pharisee corruption):

    Jew Talmud excerpts (the book that calls Christ's mother a whore & a bastard of a roman soldier):

    1. Sanhedrin 59a: "Murdering Goyim is like killing a wild animal."

    2. Abodah Zara 26b: "Even the best of the Gentiles should be killed."

    3. Sanhedrin 59a: "A goy (Gentile) who pries into The Law (Talmud) is guilty of death."

    4. Yebhamoth 11b: "Sexual intercourse with a little girl is permitted if she is three years of age."

    5. Schabouth Hag. 6d: "Jews may swear falsely by use of subterfuge wording."

    6. Hilkkoth Akum X1: "Do not save Goyim in danger of death."

    7. Hilkkoth Akum X1: "Show no mercy to the Goyim."

    8. Choschen Hamm 388, 15: "If it can be proven that someone has given the money of Israelites to the Goyim, a way must be found after prudent consideration to wipe him off the face of the earth."

    9. Choschen Hamm 266,1: "A Jew may keep anything he finds which belongs to the Akum (Gentile). For he who returns lost property (to Gentiles) sins against the Law by increasing the power of the transgressors of the Law. It is praiseworthy, however, to return lost property if it is done to honor the name of God, namely, if by so doing, Christians will praise the Jews and look upon them as honorable people."

    10. Szaaloth-Utszabot, The Book of Jore Dia 17: "A Jew should and must make a false oath when the Goyim asks if our books contain anything against them."

    11. Baba Necia 114, 6: "The Jews are human beings, but the nations of the world are not human beings but beasts."

    12. Simeon Haddarsen, fol. 56-D: "When the Messiah comes every Jew will have 2800 slaves."

    13. Nidrasch Talpioth, p. 225-L: "Jehovah created the non-Jew in human form so that the Jew would not have to be served by beasts. The non-Jew is consequently an animal in human form, and condemned to serve the Jew day and night."

    14. Aboda Sarah 37a: "A Gentile girl who is three years old can be violated."

    15. Gad. Shas. 2:2: "A Jew may violate but not marry a non-Jewish girl."

    16. Tosefta. Aboda Zara B, 5: "If a goy kills a goy or a Jew, he is responsible; but if a Jew kills a goy, he is NOT responsible."

    17. Schulchan Aruch, Choszen Hamiszpat 388: "It is permitted to kill a Jewish denunciator everywhere. It is permitted to kill him even before he denounces."

    18. Schulchan Aruch, Choszen Hamiszpat 348: "All property of other nations belongs to the Jewish nation, which, consequently, is entitled to seize upon it without any scruples."

    19. Tosefta, Abda Zara VIII, 5: "How to interpret the word 'robbery.' A goy is forbidden to steal, rob, or take women slaves, etc., from a goy or from a Jew. But a Jew is NOT forbidden to do all this to a goy."

    20. Seph. Jp., 92, 1: "God has given the Jews power over the possessions and blood of all nations."

    21. Schulchan Aruch, Choszen H

  33. JUDENS do not want you to be secure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Khazar Talmudic Jews believe this of all they call goyim/gentiles (any non-jew): Jews = biggest racists of all for which they "jew guilt" you for no less! They're hypocrites known as thieves all thru history or were Argentines in the 1940 under Peron, Spanish inquistion, France (1306), Egypt (despoiled/robbed by jews), Arabs (pre & post 1948), England (1330 Edward longshanks), Romans under titus, Russia pogroms and Germany who got rid of them from their nations nazi german's too? No. Driven into DESERTS ages ago! Don't wonder why after all those exilings above.

    Should anyone doubt any of this see Jacob Javits' crony Rosenthal spill the beans on it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4zMVZ8HnFI/ where he called all Christianity fools for helping Israel and the biggest scam of all time per their beliefs below from their Talmud.

    This is the province of the synagogue of Satan (Pharisees whom Jesus Christ himself kicked to the curb out of the temple & they killed him for it. Jeremiah did the same to them also + the Essenes could not stand them either breaking away from the pharisee corruption):

    Jew Talmud excerpts (the book that calls Christ's mother a whore & a bastard of a roman soldier):

    1. Sanhedrin 59a: "Murdering Goyim is like killing a wild animal."

    2. Abodah Zara 26b: "Even the best of the Gentiles should be killed."

    3. Sanhedrin 59a: "A goy (Gentile) who pries into The Law (Talmud) is guilty of death."

    4. Yebhamoth 11b: "Sexual intercourse with a little girl is permitted if she is three years of age."

    5. Schabouth Hag. 6d: "Jews may swear falsely by use of subterfuge wording."

    6. Hilkkoth Akum X1: "Do not save Goyim in danger of death."

    7. Hilkkoth Akum X1: "Show no mercy to the Goyim."

    8. Choschen Hamm 388, 15: "If it can be proven that someone has given the money of Israelites to the Goyim, a way must be found after prudent consideration to wipe him off the face of the earth."

    9. Choschen Hamm 266,1: "A Jew may keep anything he finds which belongs to the Akum (Gentile). For he who returns lost property (to Gentiles) sins against the Law by increasing the power of the transgressors of the Law. It is praiseworthy, however, to return lost property if it is done to honor the name of God, namely, if by so doing, Christians will praise the Jews and look upon them as honorable people."

    10. Szaaloth-Utszabot, The Book of Jore Dia 17: "A Jew should and must make a false oath when the Goyim asks if our books contain anything against them."

    11. Baba Necia 114, 6: "The Jews are human beings, but the nations of the world are not human beings but beasts."

    12. Simeon Haddarsen, fol. 56-D: "When the Messiah comes every Jew will have 2800 slaves."

    13. Nidrasch Talpioth, p. 225-L: "Jehovah created the non-Jew in human form so that the Jew would not have to be served by beasts. The non-Jew is consequently an animal in human form, and condemned to serve the Jew day and night."

    14. Aboda Sarah 37a: "A Gentile girl who is three years old can be violated."

    15. Gad. Shas. 2:2: "A Jew may violate but not marry a non-Jewish girl."

    16. Tosefta. Aboda Zara B, 5: "If a goy kills a goy or a Jew, he is responsible; but if a Jew kills a goy, he is NOT responsible."

    17. Schulchan Aruch, Choszen Hamiszpat 388: "It is permitted to kill a Jewish denunciator everywhere. It is permitted to kill him even before he denounces."

    18. Schulchan Aruch, Choszen Hamiszpat 348: "All property of other nations belongs to the Jewish nation, which, consequently, is entitled to seize upon it without any scruples."

    19. Tosefta, Abda Zara VIII, 5: "How to interpret the word 'robbery.' A goy is forbidden to steal, rob, or take women slaves, etc., from a goy or from a Jew. But a Jew is NOT forbidden to do all this to a goy."

    20. Seph. Jp., 92, 1: "God has given the Jews power over the possessions and blood of all nations."

    21. Schulchan Aruch, Choszen H

  34. We must NEUTRALIZE all things JUDEN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Khazar Talmudic Jews believe this of all they call goyim/gentiles (any non-jew): Jews = biggest racists of all for which they "jew guilt" you for no less! They're hypocrites known as thieves all thru history or were Argentines in the 1940 under Peron, Spanish inquistion, France (1306), Egypt (despoiled/robbed by jews), Arabs (pre & post 1948), England (1330 Edward longshanks), Romans under titus, Russia pogroms and Germany who got rid of them from their nations nazi german's too? No. Driven into DESERTS ages ago! Don't wonder why after all those exilings above.

    Should anyone doubt any of this see Jacob Javits' crony Rosenthal spill the beans on it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4zMVZ8HnFI/ where he called all Christianity fools for helping Israel and the biggest scam of all time per their beliefs below from their Talmud.

    This is the province of the synagogue of Satan (Pharisees whom Jesus Christ himself kicked to the curb out of the temple & they killed him for it. Jeremiah did the same to them also + the Essenes could not stand them either breaking away from the pharisee corruption):

    Jew Talmud excerpts (the book that calls Christ's mother a whore & a bastard of a roman soldier):

    1. Sanhedrin 59a: "Murdering Goyim is like killing a wild animal."

    2. Abodah Zara 26b: "Even the best of the Gentiles should be killed."

    3. Sanhedrin 59a: "A goy (Gentile) who pries into The Law (Talmud) is guilty of death."

    4. Yebhamoth 11b: "Sexual intercourse with a little girl is permitted if she is three years of age."

    5. Schabouth Hag. 6d: "Jews may swear falsely by use of subterfuge wording."

    6. Hilkkoth Akum X1: "Do not save Goyim in danger of death."

    7. Hilkkoth Akum X1: "Show no mercy to the Goyim."

    8. Choschen Hamm 388, 15: "If it can be proven that someone has given the money of Israelites to the Goyim, a way must be found after prudent consideration to wipe him off the face of the earth."

    9. Choschen Hamm 266,1: "A Jew may keep anything he finds which belongs to the Akum (Gentile). For he who returns lost property (to Gentiles) sins against the Law by increasing the power of the transgressors of the Law. It is praiseworthy, however, to return lost property if it is done to honor the name of God, namely, if by so doing, Christians will praise the Jews and look upon them as honorable people."

    10. Szaaloth-Utszabot, The Book of Jore Dia 17: "A Jew should and must make a false oath when the Goyim asks if our books contain anything against them."

    11. Baba Necia 114, 6: "The Jews are human beings, but the nations of the world are not human beings but beasts."

    12. Simeon Haddarsen, fol. 56-D: "When the Messiah comes every Jew will have 2800 slaves."

    13. Nidrasch Talpioth, p. 225-L: "Jehovah created the non-Jew in human form so that the Jew would not have to be served by beasts. The non-Jew is consequently an animal in human form, and condemned to serve the Jew day and night."

    14. Aboda Sarah 37a: "A Gentile girl who is three years old can be violated."

    15. Gad. Shas. 2:2: "A Jew may violate but not marry a non-Jewish girl."

    16. Tosefta. Aboda Zara B, 5: "If a goy kills a goy or a Jew, he is responsible; but if a Jew kills a goy, he is NOT responsible."

    17. Schulchan Aruch, Choszen Hamiszpat 388: "It is permitted to kill a Jewish denunciator everywhere. It is permitted to kill him even before he denounces."

    18. Schulchan Aruch, Choszen Hamiszpat 348: "All property of other nations belongs to the Jewish nation, which, consequently, is entitled to seize upon it without any scruples."

    19. Tosefta, Abda Zara VIII, 5: "How to interpret the word 'robbery.' A goy is forbidden to steal, rob, or take women slaves, etc., from a goy or from a Jew. But a Jew is NOT forbidden to do all this to a goy."

    20. Seph. Jp., 92, 1: "God has given the Jews power over the possessions and blood of all nations."

    21. Schulchan Aruch, Choszen H

  35. Re:The JUDEN is THE problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I’m no Hebe, but I downmoderated you because you’re fucking annoying. You have to post this shit once in every thread, fine. Stop there.

  36. Re:The JUDEN is THE problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sure you're not. Sure. What's that I read from the YOODISH talmud about lying under oath or using subterfuge wording? Why hide truth/fact?

  37. Only JEWS want that for non-jew goy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Khazar Talmudic Jews believe this of all they call goyim/gentiles (any non-jew): Jews = biggest racists of all for which they "jew guilt" you for no less! They're hypocrites known as thieves all thru history or were Argentines in the 1940 under Peron, Spanish inquistion, France (1306), Egypt (despoiled/robbed by jews), Arabs (pre & post 1948), England (1330 Edward longshanks), Romans under titus, Russia pogroms and Germany who got rid of them from their nations nazi german's too? No. Driven into DESERTS ages ago! Don't wonder why after all those exilings above.

    Should anyone doubt any of this see Jacob Javits' crony Rosenthal spill the beans on it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4zMVZ8HnFI/ where he called all Christianity fools for helping Israel and the biggest scam of all time per their beliefs below from their Talmud.

    This is the province of the synagogue of Satan (Pharisees whom Jesus Christ himself kicked to the curb out of the temple & they killed him for it. Jeremiah did the same to them also + the Essenes could not stand them either breaking away from the pharisee corruption):

    Jew Talmud excerpts (the book that calls Christ's mother a whore & a bastard of a roman soldier):

    1. Sanhedrin 59a: "Murdering Goyim is like killing a wild animal."

    2. Abodah Zara 26b: "Even the best of the Gentiles should be killed."

    3. Sanhedrin 59a: "A goy (Gentile) who pries into The Law (Talmud) is guilty of death."

    4. Yebhamoth 11b: "Sexual intercourse with a little girl is permitted if she is three years of age."

    5. Schabouth Hag. 6d: "Jews may swear falsely by use of subterfuge wording."

    6. Hilkkoth Akum X1: "Do not save Goyim in danger of death."

    7. Hilkkoth Akum X1: "Show no mercy to the Goyim."

    8. Choschen Hamm 388, 15: "If it can be proven that someone has given the money of Israelites to the Goyim, a way must be found after prudent consideration to wipe him off the face of the earth."

    9. Choschen Hamm 266,1: "A Jew may keep anything he finds which belongs to the Akum (Gentile). For he who returns lost property (to Gentiles) sins against the Law by increasing the power of the transgressors of the Law. It is praiseworthy, however, to return lost property if it is done to honor the name of God, namely, if by so doing, Christians will praise the Jews and look upon them as honorable people."

    10. Szaaloth-Utszabot, The Book of Jore Dia 17: "A Jew should and must make a false oath when the Goyim asks if our books contain anything against them."

    11. Baba Necia 114, 6: "The Jews are human beings, but the nations of the world are not human beings but beasts."

    12. Simeon Haddarsen, fol. 56-D: "When the Messiah comes every Jew will have 2800 slaves."

    13. Nidrasch Talpioth, p. 225-L: "Jehovah created the non-Jew in human form so that the Jew would not have to be served by beasts. The non-Jew is consequently an animal in human form, and condemned to serve the Jew day and night."

    14. Aboda Sarah 37a: "A Gentile girl who is three years old can be violated."

    15. Gad. Shas. 2:2: "A Jew may violate but not marry a non-Jewish girl."

    16. Tosefta. Aboda Zara B, 5: "If a goy kills a goy or a Jew, he is responsible; but if a Jew kills a goy, he is NOT responsible."

    17. Schulchan Aruch, Choszen Hamiszpat 388: "It is permitted to kill a Jewish denunciator everywhere. It is permitted to kill him even before he denounces."

    18. Schulchan Aruch, Choszen Hamiszpat 348: "All property of other nations belongs to the Jewish nation, which, consequently, is entitled to seize upon it without any scruples."

    19. Tosefta, Abda Zara VIII, 5: "How to interpret the word 'robbery.' A goy is forbidden to steal, rob, or take women slaves, etc., from a goy or from a Jew. But a Jew is NOT forbidden to do all this to a goy."

    20. Seph. Jp., 92, 1: "God has given the Jews power over the possessions and blood of all nations."

    21. Schulchan Aruch, Choszen H

  38. Re: Only JEWS want that for non-jew goy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So many jewghoul and jewtoob links...you are the jew.

  39. Belts were an advertised feature, sold at Chevron by raymorris · · Score: 1

    > Remember the introduction of seat belts? Yeah, that had to be mandated

    Seat belts were a highly advertised feature. Later, it was such a popular feature that gas stations sold them for installation in order cars, much like large stations sell aftermarket cupholders today.
    Here's a Chevron ad, only $5.95 for this great seatbelt:

    https://www.thrillist.com/vice...

    After Ford was putting the belts I all of their cars, and after owners of older cars picked up the new-style seatbelt from the corner gas station, then the government said "oh yeah, that's a good idea. Let's mandate that."

  40. Re:Security and reliability are areas of innovatio by jd · · Score: 1

    We can require everyone to use formal methods, but don't expect any updates to OpenSSL/LibreSSL this decade.

    It would cost $2.4 billion to reduce the bug density in the Linux kernel to 0.00045 or less and keep it there for a year.

    Current status: https://scan.coverity.com/proj...

    That's very nearly bug-free. It would actually be 100% bug-free in all components that don't require features that are inherently unreliable. The government could afford it, most corporations could not.

    I would actually like that for Linux, have a huge program to perform a proper detailed clean-up of the entire kernel. No loss of functionality, just a loss of bugs. It's used in many important areas and no system can be more reliable than the OS it uses.

    But you can't ask people to design KDE that way (although they could design it better), nor could you ask a commercial vendor like Oracle to get their database to that standard. Only a government has the money needed and even then only for a few projects.

    When it comes to encryption, it's worse. We don't know what constitutes good, we only know some things that constitute bad. Same for authentication. Ergo, we can define minimum standards by defining what is bad, but we can't define anything better.

    Open source doesn't help, since nobody does test driven development and almost nobody tests. Documentation is dreadful. Want to show otherwise? Sure, go ahead. Reply to this with a file in CPNTools format that shows the full state machine for the IPv6 stack. That should be easy, you have RFCs showing the datagrams and state changes.

    Such a diagram can be drawn, but not by anyone here in any sane length of time. That's full-time work for a large team of high-end experts.

    --
    It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
  41. Who makes the chips in in the IOT world? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Who planted that ROM chip with the code?
    And what is the code?
    I envision my Maytag dryer communicating with my Kenmore washer and playing cybernetic havoc.

  42. Insurance companies need to lead the charge by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you have a homeowners insurance policy you should be limited to installing certified IoT devices on your home network. Why? Those devices often control critical appliances and climate control systems in your home, creating the potential to cause major liability issues. Who should regulate certification of IoT devices? Maybe Underwriters Laboratory should lead the charge on this. The real sticky bit will be handling experimental devices to allow individuals the ability to tinker with IoT devices. Perhaps those folks simply need to pay higher premiums.

  43. Re:Security and reliability are areas of innovatio by ole_timer · · Score: 1

    in the airline business there's huge government safety overhead because lots of people die otherwise. in iot they don't die. we don't need standards. we need smarter consumers. buy junk, get junk. doh.

    --
    nothing to see here - move along
  44. Re: Yet factually incorrect from the first sentenc by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And goverments created law of torts.
    And law of torts begat liability.
    And liability begat insurance companies.
    And insurance companies created safety codes.
    Now therefore Schneier said unto the people: "It is because of what governments did that you have safety laws. Now go and be humble and do not speak harshly of government. For though it may not be your friend today, yet shall it be your friend in your Hour of need."

  45. Re: Only JEWS want that for non-jew goy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Well said. Write that out 100 times.

  46. Cute. But no by raymorris · · Score: 1

    That was entertaining, thanks.

    Watching my young daughter has taught me some things. Such as:

    > And law of torts begat liability.

    Two year olds very much understand "it's your fault and I'm mad at you", liability for harms done is not an invention of government.

    What I thought was interesting is that two year olds will get really mad if another two year old copies their drawing (scribble) or song. Copyright seems to be instinctual.

  47. Re:Security and reliability are areas of innovatio by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Secondary effects are a reality, bub. Besides the pacemakers with OPEN WIFI CONNECTIONS LACKING ANY SECURITY.

    Besides the stories over the past month where hackers could simultaneously change a neighborhood's thermostats and shutdown a utility?
    DDoS attacks removing network connectivity or overrunning cell towers - and therefore, nowadays, the ability to call emergency services?

  48. Making things secure costs money by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... and at this point in time, there's no *widespread* public consumer demand to increase the security of products. Therefore, there's no profit incentive for manufacturers to spend the extra time, money and effort to secure a product.

    The same goes for corporations and information privacy. There are significant costs involved in securing and maintaining complex systems and databases containing personal information. When a data breach takes place, the corporation isn't actually *losing* anything. The data is *copied.* The only thing the company loses is a little bit of face, then the public gets distracted by something else, and no one cares that the breach took place (e.g. Equifax). There are no fines, no boycotts, no backlash. At worst, stock dips a little before recovering, maybe a CEO takes their millions and lays low for a little while or quietly moves to another corporation, but the gears keep turning, and the money keeps rolling in anyway.

    So in this scenario, *why on Earth* would a company or corporation bother to spend the time, money or effort to make something secure, when they don't have to? Until the public starts demanding security, there's no financial incentive to make it happen. And at this point, we're so far along with so many breaches, that new generations are starting to realize that there's no security or privacy inherently associated with the connected world at all. Spray enough generations of monkeys with the hose when the try to step on the ladder, and they forget why they aren't supposed to step on the ladder anymore. Raise enough generations of people in an environment where there's no security or privacy to be had anyway, and they stop being concerned about it in the first place.

    No public concern, no public demand, no public or legislative pressure, no financial incentive. Simply put: "no one" cares enough about security to bother covering the costs of security, because the costs of security currently outweigh the costs of not being secure.