Tuesday, February 28, 2023

Are things looking brighter for Internet Of Things security?

Standards MATTER?

Matter is the first attempt to bring together the biggest names in smart home to develop a standard for secure, reliable interoperability for connected devices. However, Matter matters because it could go much further than just smart homes — it could be applied to all connected devices.

Up until now, device-to-device communication across brands has been lacking. But when Matter is widely available for smart home consumers, it means more compatibility with more devices, making it easier to purchase a secure and seamless connected smart home, no matter the brand. But the benefits of seamless connected devices could expand far beyond smart home. It could enable smart cities and connected buildings to interoperate reliably and securely, connected health devices of various brands to work together natively and even reliably connect devices in space.

Makers of “internet of things” products, such as smart kettles and fridges, and software developers will face heavy fines if they do not meet tough rules aimed at averting cyber attacks, according to draft EU legislation to be unveiled next week. Companies will have to obtain mandatory certificates that show they are meeting the basic requirements of cyber safety that minimise the risk of attacks, according to a confidential document seen by the Financial Times. Those that fail to comply will be fined up to €15mn or 2.5 per cent of the previous year’s global turnover, whichever is higher.

New sheriff in town, it seems.  And the MATTER effort is encouraging.  Maybe I'll have to stop saying that security wasn't an afterthought, it wasn't thought of at all.  Good. 

5 comments:

  1. Locking the barn door: good.
    Horse already way down the road: not so good.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'll continue to be smart home free... but that's just me.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great and all, but I still for the life of me can't figure out why the hell I need my dishwasher to connect to the internet, anyway.

    You don't need security if it isn't connected. Not having a connection at all is sort of an unbreakable firewall, if you will. And I honestly cannot figure out how having a fridge, dishwasher, clothes washer, toaster, etc that connects to the internet. WTF for?

    ReplyDelete
  4. First link is currently not useful... the entire site is 403, perhaps as a result of a missing htaccess file.
    Which is one way of securing things, I guess.

    I'm about to start building some intranet things, which may in the fullness of time have an Internet gateway. For now, they'll be confined to the local network.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm with Old NFO. Smart home free. I had to pay more for a non-smart TV when lightning took out our last one, and I gladly did. I'm sure there's a ton of other ways they're spying on me, but no smart refrigerators, no smart appliances. Not if I can help it.

    ReplyDelete

Remember your manners when you post. Anonymous comments are not allowed because of the plague of spam comments.