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Samsung Positions TV as Secure IoT Hub For Home

In-brief: Samsung said on Wednesday that new security features in its Tizen-based Smart TVs would protect consumer data stored on the device, encrypt communications to- and from the device and protect the TVs from malicious software.

ARM courting Sansa to boost IoT security | InfoWorld

In-brief: Infoworld writes about the possible deal by ARM to acquire Sansa Security, a maker of security software for embedded systems that populate the Internet of Things.

Trend Micro among 22 joining AllSeen IoT Standards Group

In-brief: The security firm Trend Micro announced that it was joining the AllSeen Alliance, an open source platform for connecting Internet of Things devices. 

Gadgets That Spy On Their Owners

  When the recent brouhaha erupted over Samsung SmartTV’s habit of harvesting ambient conversations and transmitting that data to unnamed third parties, we noted that Samsung was hardly alone. In fact, Security Ledger reported on identical behavior by LG television sets back in May, 2014.  But, as this article notes, televisions aren’t the only sensor-rich devices that are seeing and hearing what goes on around us. Forget about Samsung or LG getting recordings of you laughing at The Daily Show, or foggy conversations you have about what to watch next. What about Microsoft Xbox Kinect, which includes sound, motion and infrared sensors that can track up to six individuals simultaneously? Also mentioned: Google Waze, Amazon Echo and GM’s OnStar. The question – as always- is about what privacy protections consumers should expect from connected devices. While all the above manufacturers sought “consent” from users in the text of verbose and legalistic Terms […]

In Smart TV Land, Eavesdropping is Nothing New

In-brief: Samsung isn’t alone in asking customers to consent to the collection and transmission of “voice data.” But questions about the ethics and legality of the practice remain.