Search Results for "Privacy"

Valles del Silicio: How IoT is Democratizing Innovation

Here we find ourselves at the beginning of a new year, and I can’t resist looking ahead. As I observed in last month’s column, I’m an advocate for cyber security fundamentals. And, like any “fundamentalist,” I would like to assert that these security fundamentals won’t change. As for the Internet of Things as a whole, however, I believe that we are on the cusp of tremendous change. In the next year, I predict that many of the assumptions that have guided us in areas like networking, application development, data analysis and  – yes – security will undergo major, and necessary, change. But to what? And from whom? That’s what I’d like to explore. This past December, I attended the inaugural weekend of CyberCamp, a three-day event in Madrid hosted by INCIBE and the Spanish government. In addition to having the honor of being one of the keynote speakers, I had the opportunity to speak with a […]

Continue Reading

Wireless Infusion Pump is Test Case for Securing Medical Devices

A National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) reference document is providing some of the clearest guidance from the U.S. government for securing connected medical devices, but may be setting too low a bar for securing wireless communications, according to a security expert. NIST, working with the University of Minnesota’s Technological Leadership Institute, released a draft Use Case document  (PDF) on December 18 to help health care providers “secure their medical devices on an enterprise networks.” However, in the area of communications security, the document suggests the use of WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy), a legacy wireless security technology that can easily be cracked. NIST released the draft security use case document and is seeking feedback from the public. The drug infusion pump case study is described as the “first of a series” of similar use cases that will focus on medical device security, NIST wrote. The draft document presents a technical description of the security challenges […]

Continue Reading

Wearable Cameras Birth A New Biometric

  Wearable technology is a burgeoning category, and products like Google Glass and smart watches are just the beginning. As with mobile phones, on-board cameras are sure to be de rigueur. But, as this article over at The Verge notes, those cameras will present new challenges (for privacy) and new opportunities (for security). Specifically: cameras coupled with your body seem to create new kinds of opportunities to uniquely identify you. One example: gait biometrics. The Verge notes recent research published by Professor Shmuel Peleg and Yedid Hoshen of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Those researchers created a way to identify first-person filmmakers based on the signature wobble of their cameras. The identity of the user can be determined “quite reliably from a few seconds of video,” the researchers write in their paper. [Interested in biometrics and wearables? Check out our article “Are Wearables the Future of Authentication?“] “The idea of distinguishing one person from […]

Continue Reading

Five Steps to Secure Internet of Things | Network World

Colin Neagle over at Networkworld has a nice piece that takes provides some common-sense advice for enterprises that are worried about their exposure to the Internet of Things. As Neagle notes: surveys of IT leaders (albeit industry-sponsored surveys) suggest that businesses are anxious to embrace Internet of Things technologies that improve the productivity of workers. But they may be underestimating (or entirely overlooking) the security and privacy risks that go along with that adoption. Neagle notes the recent TripWire survey that suggested 63% of C-level executives said they were likely to adopt the IoT to increase productivity and efficiency, while just 27% reported being “very concerned” about the security risks. His advice: don’t underestimate the risk posed by Internet of Things products. Also: make sure that IT operations is pulled into the discussion of any new IoT technology deployment. Read more via 5 ways to prepare for Internet of Things security […]

Continue Reading

Has the IoT Standards Train Already Left the Station?

The Harvard Business Review has an interesting blog post from last week that looks at the effort to develop standards and promote RFID (Radio Frequency ID), a kind of Ur-technology for our current Internet of Things. Writing on the HBR blog, Thomas Davenport and Sanjay Sarma note that the effort to develop RFID standards, led by MIT’s Auto-ID Labs, provides a possible model for the development of cross-vendor standards for the Internet of Things. However, the authors caution that it may already be too late to achieve consensus on standards to govern Internet of Things communications, given the heavy investment of large and wealthy technology companies in the standards process. One of the most successful elements of the RFID standards effort, which developed and promoted the EPCGlobal standard, was close collaboration between academics, technology vendors and end users.End users of the RFID technology – notably retailer WalMart, Procter & Gamble and […]

Continue Reading
1 … 70 71 72 73 74 … 95