Australian Government is Taking IoT Security Seriously

Dan Tehan, the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on Cyber Security, said that the government is prepared to pass new laws regulating the security of IoT devices if the industry did not take the initiative. 

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2017/10/15/make-products-cyber-safe-govt-tells-firms

The trigger for this statement is the recent vulnerabilities discovered in Internet-connected baby monitors that enable hackers to hijack the device and use the footage and sound recordings of the baby without his parents ever noticing. 

This may be the first step in a much-needed direction, where regulation ensures the privacy and security of IoT devices for the home environment. 

Although this is a similar issue to “traditional” cybersecurity (one where regulation was very slow to adopt to growing threats, and has yet to make an impact on the consumer market), regulators must speed up the process and ensure smart devices are delivered to customer with adequate security, because unlike IT security (say, securing your home laptop), when it comes to “smart” devices the consumer has very little knowledge or even access to ensure proper security means (you cannot install anti-virus on a baby monitor- even if you know your way around IT security). 

Securing the devices will be the first step in improving IoT security, but it should not stop there- IoT service providers will also need to address potential threats at the platform level and offer security as part of their quality of service. I hope that with improved device security as the foundation for the IoT security pyramid, the entire IoT infrastructure will be more robust and secure.