Where’s The (IoT) Security?

We really attempted to use some variant of “Where’s The Beef” as that plays well with the older folks but we just could not work it into this post.

Sorry about that.

If you are unaware of IoT, it stands for the Internet of Things, Industrial Internet, Smart [Put-Your-Word Here (home,car,etc..)] and is the umbrella term for all of those new sensors and conveniences that are pervading our lives.

And 80% of it is unprotected.

Think about that for a minute – these new devices are recording personal information, provide important, if not life-critical, services and supposedly keep our lights on and country safe.  Yet, for the most part, none of them are considered secure.  Maybe that is why a recent study projected an imminent infrastructure hack that would cost us $1 Trillion in damages.

We have heard a ton of reasons for this lack of security – current options are too big/slow/battery pigs; nothing is secure in security so why bother;maintaining certs sucks; we have yet to get to that point in our product (and why hasn’t somebody bought us yet?); and so forth.

Seriously on that last one – many IoT companies just want to get to market, sell to somebody larger in a few months and pass the buck to their acquirer.  That is AWESOME news for hackers.

While Bear addresses each of these challenges in a unique manner, the responses were so wide spread that we feel now that we need more information.

If you are providing some sort of Internet-connected product or service, what are your feelings on security these days?  What are you using and what is your general feeling on the whole protection market?

If you are a consumer or business using IoT, how do you feel about safety?  Are you really concerned and, if so, what worries you the most?

Thank you for your responses and have a great day!

The Bear Team