Security Risks With IOT Devices

Chandramouli Srinivasan

The IOT article talks about the dumb security risks with the devices in the market.
My key takeaways

IOT products are not being designed with security. Security is ignored over other aspects like TTM, Cost and User Experience.
As the scale is going to be massive in the next few years existing solutions are being pitched for adding security into IOT products.
Security is ignored by IOT product vendors as there is no one asking for hit.
With the adoption picking, the technology world is headed for big trouble without security.
Only a ground-up security IOT solution can solve this massive problem.

 
The author states the following which are summarized here.

A study by HP of ten popular IoT devices—including smart TVs, webcams and home automation devices found an average of 25 security flaws per device. Seven of the ten devices had serious vulnerabilities.
Yet one Symantec study of sports bands and smart watches found the majority lacked privacy policies, nearly all connected to a cloud service, and 20 percent sent passwords without encrypting them.
Home automation faces the same issues. One intrepid reporter even used the information from the research to contact users and demonstrate that she could control their homes.
Chris Valasek, director of vehicle security research with security services firm ioActive—studied 19 different models of cars and found vulnerabilities in every vehicle.
IOT Vendors are saying that they could implement security, but no one is asking for it,” he says. “So, if no one is going to pay for it, it is not on their list of priorities.”

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2884612/internet-of-things-security-check-how-3-smart-devices-can-be-dumb-about-the-risks.html