It’s a little like hiring a doorman without ever doing a criminal reference check or getting a certificate of conduct: you might be getting more than you bargain for.

Last week, a conference in London was told that bringing the smallest kind of technology from the internet of things could bring with it a world of hurt.

First, about the internet of things. That’s the term given to everyday devices that are hooked up to the internet to stream information — and there are a lot of things that do just that. Household appliances, electronic monitoring systems, remote-activation thermostats, computer modems and even home-assistance devices like Amazon’s Alexa and Echo technology: it’s a list that keeps growing in the quest to do every single thing without ever having to lift your butt out of your personalized dent in the couch. (I’m troubled enough that, whenever the internet is on the fritz, a technician with the cable company can finger his way with no trouble into the modem inside our house. And I mentioned my personal concerns a few weeks ago about having an open microphone, like Alexa or Ask Siri, turned on full time in someone’s house.)

Source: Russell Wangersky: Convenience vs. security in the internet of things | The Beacon

In my 2018 predictions article, I made some bold claims about what I thought would happen in the IoT and autonomous vehicle marketplace (Tim Cooks Retires, Apple buys Tesla and Musk takes the reigns). Since then, I have had the opportunity to interact with dozens of companies that are moving the IoT ecosystem from prototype to production. Below are several vendors in the IoT landscape that are leading the industry within their respective lanes.

Source: Leaders Emerge As The Industrial Internet Of Things Ecosystem Takes Shape | Forbes

Google on Thursday announced it will acquire LogMeIn’s Xively IoT platform for $50 million.

Google said the deal will “complement” its Google Cloud efforts for a fully managed IoT service.

“With the addition of Xively’s robust, enterprise-ready IoT platform, we can accelerate our customers’ timeline from IoT vision to product, as they look to build their connected business,” Google wrote in a blog post announcing the acquisition.

Source: Google acquires LogMeIn’s Xively IoT platform for $50 million | ZDNet

More connected devices means more vulnerability to cyberattacks. Is there a cheap, easy and secure way to protect the internet and the world?

Source: Using blockchain to secure the ‘internet of things’ | Ther Conversation

IoT brings several security challenges with far-reaching consequences. These challenges differ from those present in more conventional technology infrastructures.

Source: Securing the Insecure: Security Challenges Posed by the Internet of Things | IoT Evolution World

Connected devices such as smart light bulbs, refrigerators and TVs are all bound by Wi-Fi networks. But that might not be the case for much longer.

Arm, a processor design company, is unveiling a new software stack, called Kigen, that would allow SIM cards to be integrated into internet-of-things devices. That is, your smart objects could connect to the internet more like a phone, rather than being dependent on Wi-Fi. And that could be big business: The company is looking ahead to a trillion connected devices by 2035, though the cellular IoT market would be only a portion of that.

Source: Arm’s Kigen design points to SIM cards for smart devices | CNET

For how many years now have federal CIOs and IT managers heard the bromide “security must be baked in, not bolted on?” It is one of those phrases that gets repeated so often that it’s lost its meaning, but the fact that it’s still considered wisdom today is itself meaningful.

The uncomfortable reality of cybersecurity is that it remains our nation’s biggest technology challenge. Despite high-profile security breaches that have embarrassed agencies and corporations, keeping up with vulnerabilities and staying ahead of hackers from both a technology and user education standpoint isn’t easy. This task is further complicated by the prevalence of siloed legacy technology, which drains agency budgets and limits their ability to make the most of mobile technologies. On average, agencies spend about 75 percent of their IT budgets operating and maintaining existing systems, leaving little opportunity to modernize, according to the Government Accountability Office.

Source: Security for the exploding Internet of Things ecosystem | FCW

“Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.” Archimedes died in 212 BC. There’s no way he could have predicted the Internet of Things. But he did.

Three unknown twenty-somethings said give us vulnerable home routers and DVR’s and we’ll take down the internet.

They nearly did with the Mirai botnet, and the trouble is just starting.

Source: For national security, the ‘Internet of Things’ is the ‘Internet of Trouble’ | TheHill

Poor cybersecurity in Internet of Things (IoT) medical devices potentially poses risks to both the well-being of patients as well as to the infrastructure that keeps hospitals running.

The Royal Academy of Engineering worked alongside the Petras Internet of Things research hub to produce a report on IoT, cyber-safety, and reliance — and the message is that more work needs to be done to improve the security of connected systems.

Source: IoT security warning: Cyber-attacks on medical devices could put patients at risk | ZDNet

Now that we’ve begun the new year, it may be the best time to revisit Internet of Things (IoT) legislation (even though the relevant bills have been on the Hill since the summer).

A recently introduced bill addresses perceived vulnerabilities in the security of IoT devices sold to the federal government, and medical devices that connect to the Internet. IoT device manufacturers would also have responsibilities to ensure security over the life of the devices. The counter-argument to this legislation, however, is that disclosure and certification requirements could create additional liability for device manufacturers.

Source: Regulation is the best hope for IoT security – imagine that! | CSO Online