The Internet of Things (IoT) has potentially opened the door for wearables, home appliances, and other embedded software to share and communicate via the Internet, making information security on the shared media an important issue that cannot be neglected.

While cybersecurity fears about IoT remain prevalent — some lawmakers in the U.S. Congress is about now getting to work to ensure the government raises its own defenses in response to possible attack.

Hackers had weaponized the Internet of Things — they took aim at the backbone of the Internet last year, impeding access to websites like Twitter and Spotify.

The idea of connected devices is dependent on access, storage and processing of data. And for this purpose, companies working on IoT collect data from multiple sources and store it in their cloud network for further processing.

As data is the key driver of IoT, the door is wide open for privacy and security problems and single point vulnerability of multiple systems.

The new proposal by the lawmakers would put into law a requirement that vendors ensure that small, screenless devices sold to the U.S. government can be patched against security vulnerabilities.

All the more reason for Congress to adopt new cybersecurity rules, is on the fear that some federal agencies are better than others at safeguarding their devices from hackers. Even as the Department of Defense remains one of the biggest buyers and researchers of web-connected portable devices.

The overriding objective is to put in place guidelines that would allow experts to test the security of IoT devices, and report to manufacturers without fear of liability under any federal laws.

The Internet of Things: Is it a new Cybersecurity challenge?



The Internet of Things (IoT) has potentially opened the door for wearables, home appliances, and other embedded software to share and communicate via the Internet, making information security on the shared media an important issue that cannot be neglected.

While cybersecurity fears about IoT remain prevalent — some lawmakers in the U.S. Congress is about now getting to work to ensure the government raises its own defenses in response to possible attack.

Hackers had weaponized the Internet of Things — they took aim at the backbone of the Internet last year, impeding access to websites like Twitter and Spotify.

The idea of connected devices is dependent on access, storage and processing of data. And for this purpose, companies working on IoT collect data from multiple sources and store it in their cloud network for further processing.

As data is the key driver of IoT, the door is wide open for privacy and security problems and single point vulnerability of multiple systems.

The new proposal by the lawmakers would put into law a requirement that vendors ensure that small, screenless devices sold to the U.S. government can be patched against security vulnerabilities.

All the more reason for Congress to adopt new cybersecurity rules, is on the fear that some federal agencies are better than others at safeguarding their devices from hackers. Even as the Department of Defense remains one of the biggest buyers and researchers of web-connected portable devices.

The overriding objective is to put in place guidelines that would allow experts to test the security of IoT devices, and report to manufacturers without fear of liability under any federal laws.