The long-discussed Internet of Things (IoT) has had one big problem from the start. Everybody's been working on it in their own different corners. One company comes up with a fantastic app - such as IFTTT which lets you create recipes to connect smart objects - and another comes up with a clever gadget such as Amazon's Echo speaker that can already talk to other objects. And yet more companies come up with the backend technology needed to connect everything in a home, an enterprise or even a city. None of it holds together.
Different ecosystems, different ways of working, different devices and technologies - all of it has been an unholy mess crying out for someone to neaten things out. All the more so because so many connected devices dependent upon one another form a security snare.
On top of that, a large number of consortiums have been working on proposing rules and formats for the Internet of Things, but ironically, there are too many such organisations to be able to quickly agree on on what should be followed by everyone.
Now, the GSMA, the association for all things cellular globally, has come up with a set of guidelines for the secure development of IoT products and solutions. This is not a moment too soon as the potential consequences of attacks on anything IoT will mean an attack on an entire ecosystem and can have devastating consequences including crippling city infrastructure. Privacy is also a deep concern as businesses and homes open up to become possible targets of those benefiting from gathering data.
The GSMA has worked with major cellular service providers across the world to come up with security guidelines.
"As billions of devices become connected in the Internet of Things, offering innovative and interconnected new services, the possibility of potential vulnerabilities increases," said Alex Sinclair, Chief Technology Officer, GSMA.
"These can be overcome if the end-to-end security of an IoT service is carefully considered by the service provider when designing their service and an appropriate mitigating technology is deployed. A proven and robust approach to security will create trusted, reliable services that scale as the market grows."
Security and privacy are only two of the many obstacles to the formation of the new world envisioned as part of the Internet of Things, or Internet of Everything, as Cisco calls it. But guidelines on these two aspects will really help pave a quicker way forward.
BW Reporters
Mala Bhargava has been writing on technology well before the advent of internet in Indians and before CDs made their way into computers. Mala writes on technology, social media, startups and fitness. A trained psychologist, she claims that her understanding of psychology helps her understand the human side of technology.
