Polls

FTC Asks Companies to Get Serious About IoT Security

GardenState — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 15:01:42 GMT

Current Revision posted to Polls by GardenState on 10/11/2021 3:01:42 PM

When you add them all up—health and fitness monitors, connected cars, home automation systems, smart meters, etc.—the Internet of Things (IoT) total reaches an estimated 10 billion devices worldwide.

All of these devices collect, store and transmit information about who we are and what we do and as such raise privacy and security concerns. A connected home lighting system, smart refrigerator or any other IoT device is a potential beachhead for attackers and the Information obtained could have a negative effect on our employability, credit rating or insurance premiums. The trend toward “big data”– collecting terabytes of information that can be mined for marketing purposes—also means that IoT information has become a valuable commodity. If security issues are not addressed, leaks of the very personal information tracked by IoT products (e.g., your location, mood, smoking habits, exercise regimen and the medications you take, for instance) could also create a consumer backlash that would prevent the benefits of the IoT from being fully realized.

Understanding the importance of providing consumers with the protections they want the staff of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) earlier this year recommended a series of steps that businesses can take to enhance and protect consumers’ IoT privacy and security.

In January the FTC issued a staff report on IoT privacy and security.

The report is partly based on input from leading technologists and academics, industry representatives, consumer advocates and others who participated in the FTC’s Internet of Things workshop held in Washington D.C. on Nov. 19, 2013, as well as those who submitted public comments to the Commission. The scope of the report is limited to IoT devices that are sold to or used by consumers. No discussion of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT, sometimes known as Industry 4.0) is included.

The report includes the following “recommendations” (the quotation marks are mine, for reasons that will become apparent shortly) for companies developing Internet of Things devices:

build security into devices at the outset, rather than as an afterthought in the design process;
train employees about the importance of security, and ensure that security is managed at an appropriate level in the organization;
ensure that when outside service providers are hired, that those providers are capable of maintaining reasonable security, and provide reasonable oversight of the providers;
when a security risk is identified, consider a “defense-in-depth” strategy whereby multiple layers of security may be used to defend against a particular risk;
consider measures to keep unauthorized users from accessing a consumer’s device, data, or personal information stored on the network;
monitor connected devices throughout their expected life cycle, and where feasible, provide security patches to cover known risks.

Now back to the reason for the quotation marks in the word “recommendations” above. The FTC report includes a great many suggestions as to what business should do to insure IoT data privacy. But these are only suggestions, things to consider and courses of action that one might “take under advisement.” The FTC wants IoT entities to use its guidelines and “self-regulate.”

Well, the only thing missing in the FTC report is the phrase “pretty please”. There is not one “a company must” in the entire document and deliberately so, because, again, these are just in the FTC’s words, “best practices”, not formal regulatory measures. The commission believes that at this point specific legislation would be premature.

I disagree, but before I explain why you should know that in general I don’t like to see legislative bodies trying to mandate how individuals or corporate entities behave except when clearly needed for the public good. And overall I don’t like it when government decides to micromanage society. I also recognize that an overly regulatory approach to IoT data protection could potentially stifle our burgeoning digital economy.

What’s more, I am by nature a capitalist and I believe that a business deserves a return on its investment. Even companies I don’t immediately trust, such as those collecting, analyzing and selling information on people. Overall I don’t categorize firms as either good or bad, but I do realize that unchecked they will do whatever the law allows to increase profitability and make their stock more attractive to shareholders. This is how the system works and we must adjust our rules, guidelines and regulations to account for it, creating, when needed, tools to protect the public welfare. And the best tools we have to do so are called laws.

(Source: The annual IT Risk/Reward Barometer, a study conducted by ISACA, a global association of more than 115,000 IT security, assurance, risk and governance professionals.)

There is precedence here. We have on the books a blueprint to help guide us through the process of protecting sensitive data. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) includes Privacy, Security and Breach Notification Rules to protect individually identifiable health information. It sets national standards for the security of electronic health data and it specifies the rights granted to individuals as well as breach notification requirements, enforcement activities, etc.

HIPAA includes a Privacy Rule whose goal is to assure that individuals’ health information is properly protected while allowing the flow of health information needed to provide and promote high quality health care and to protect the public's health and well-being.

By all accounts—over the nearly twenty years since the rule’s inception—it has worked very well and could be used as a template for similar IoT legislation.

Even the FTC admits that eventually the Internet of Things will require privacy and security rules. So to give them a head start, here are a few things that I think must be included, in no particular order:

Minimize the amount of information collected. The FTC staff recommends that companies limit the collection of consumer data, and retain that information only for a set period of time, and not indefinitely. This is a good idea. Under the recommendations, companies can choose to collect no data, data limited to certain categories to provide a particular service offered, identify less sensitive data, or choose to de-identify-- that is, strip out information from the data collected that could provide a reasonable basis for identifying an individual, the individual’s relatives, household members, friends and employers. By minimizing the amount of data collected a company also becomes a less inviting target for data thieves or hackers.

Require that authorization must be obtained to use or disclose protected IoT information. This should take the form of either written permission from the individual who is the subject of the information to be used or via an easy to understand “opt out” feature. If the latter route is taken it should be made to be more effective than the telephone “Do Not Call Registry” which in my experience worked well initially but then was largely ignored by telemarketers. FTC staff also sensibly recommends that companies notify consumers and give them choices about how their information will be used, particularly when the data collection is beyond consumers’ expectations.

Privacy Practices Notice. As with current procedure for banks, credit card agencies and major retailers, entities collecting IoT data should provide consumers with notice of its privacy practices. The notice should describe the ways in which they use IoT data and how they protect privacy in doing so. It should describe the individuals’ rights, including the right to complain to the entity or a government agency if they believe their privacy rights have been violated. The notice also should include a point of contact for further information and for making complaints.

Public interest and benefit exceptions. These next few elements are tricky, but I believe there are circumstances in which IoT data holders may (one can argue should) disclose protected Information to local, state or federal authorities without an individual’s authorization or permission; for example if it is necessary to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to the public (as long as appropriate checks and balances are put in place to prevent abuse of this exception).

Law enforcement exceptions. Provision should be made so that protected IoT information may be given to law enforcement officials under certain circumstances, and subject to strictly regulated conditions. Examples include the process of trying to identify or locate a suspect, fugitive, material witness, or missing person. Exceptions should also be considered in response to a law enforcement official’s request for information about a victim of a crime, or for preventing recurring criminal acts (such as when an IoT home monitoring device captures incidences of child abuse or domestic violence). Also, I can envision the need to allow IoT data to be used when such disclosure is needed to identify or apprehend an escapee or violent criminal.

Other law-based exceptions. Similarly, privacy protection exemptions should be allowed when the request for the information is through an order from a court or in response to a subpoena, warrant or other lawful process.

Penalties. Any rules that emerge regarding IoT data privacy should impose financial penalties or even allow for criminal prosecution if the wrongful conduct is willful. One example would be if information continues to be collected surreptitiously after the consumer has specifically prohibited it. So as not to be unjustly harsh in cases not involving willful release of data wrongdoers should be allowed to simply correct the violation within a specified (and timely) period, provided it can be demonstrated that no harm had been done.

Add it all up and the rule-makers have plenty to concentrate on and more than a little bit to worry about. But rules to protect privacy and secure important information have worked in the past and they can do so again.

What do you think? Cast your vote and click the Submit button below.

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Protocol for IoT

amgalbu — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 15:01:34 GMT

Current Revision posted to Polls by amgalbu on 10/11/2021 3:01:34 PM

Which protocol do you think will be the most widely used for IoT?

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Tags: iot_platform, mqtt, m2m, sensors, cloud, iot, machine-to-machine_(m2m)

Internet of Things or Internet of Everything?

markvenn — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 15:01:30 GMT

Current Revision posted to Polls by markvenn on 10/11/2021 3:01:30 PM

My PhD is working with stuff connected together and in my research I am obviously seeing IoT and IoE in the literature; so, what do think it should actually be called? IoT or IoE?

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Tags: open-source, internet, iot

Poll: What is Your Leading IoT Prediction for 2020?

rscasny — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 14:59:27 GMT

Current Revision posted to Polls by rscasny on 10/11/2021 2:59:27 PM

IoT is in a steady growth curve and 2020 should see that trend to continue. But growth statistics don't always describe what's going on in the IoT industry. 5G is hot and so is edge computing. But how can an engineer quantify those trends to help him/her guide career decisions? How do businesses know what and how much to invest into IoT? I've listed below a few IoT predictions for 2020. Vote of them or offer your leading predication in the comments section.

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Tags: community survey, 2020 iot predictions poll

Help me with title for Vision Thing

clem57 — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 14:59:14 GMT

Current Revision posted to Polls by clem57 on 10/11/2021 2:59:14 PM

This is my ideas so far for a title. I hope to get an interesting one in the next few days. Please vote and comment below to help me decide.

Poll Title search for project for Vision Thing

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Tags: vision thing

Poll: Are you presently using an Internet-connected hand tool?

rscasny — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 14:59:11 GMT

Current Revision posted to Polls by rscasny on 10/11/2021 2:59:11 PM

IoT. That used to mean Internet of Things. But the world has thrown a monkey wrench into that. IoT means Internet of Tools!

The Internet of Tools essentially means that a hand tool is connected to the internet to provide data about the tooling action you have taken. Crimping. Hammering. Drilling. Soldering. Expect to see the Internet of Tools to explode with new products in the coming years.

Poll Question: Are you presently using and Internet-connected hand tool?

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Tags: community survey

IoT Poll: How Smart is Your City?

rscasny — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 14:59:06 GMT

Current Revision posted to Polls by rscasny on 10/11/2021 2:59:06 PM

Smart city initiatives is one of the important pillars of the the use of IoT. They are expected to grow and multiply in the coming years. However, these initiatives require either leadership in the public sector or public/private partnerships. Both cost big money.

It's a big job to make a city smart. You not only need investment money, you need to manage change among all of the city's departments and the citizens themselves. This means breaking down the power and tech silos to get the buy in to make the smart city initiative work.

Poll Question: How Smart is your city? Is the place where you live adopting smart city technology? Or, are they spinning the wheels of indecision and hung up on doing things the ways they used to in the 1950s?

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Poll: How Reliable is IoT?

rscasny — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 14:59:03 GMT

Current Revision posted to Polls by rscasny on 10/11/2021 2:59:03 PM

IoT security is always at the top of the list of the Big Issues of IoT. There's also a lot of concern about wireless connectivity and power management. What about reliability? How reliable is IoT? Does IoT work when you need it work? If it isn't, what can improve IoT reliability?

Poll Question: How Reliable is IoT?

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Poll: What is the most important thing you need to know about IoT right now?

rscasny — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 14:59:01 GMT

Current Revision posted to Polls by rscasny on 10/11/2021 2:59:01 PM

IoT is one of the top three topics the element14 community is interested in. (The other two are single board computers and AI).

Over the past year, we have sponsored projects and Design Challenges that are IoT-focused. Our suppliers have sponsored RoadTests and Webinars that are IoT-centric as well.

I can't count how many blogs. discussions and other sorts of content that focus on IoT.

So, what's left that you really need to know or would like to do?

I'm planning for the coming year already. So, what would you like to see.

IoT is a big area. Sensors, processors, wireless connectivity, connectors, software -- the list is endless.

Poll Question: What is the most important thing you need to know about IoT right now?

[Please visit the site to access the poll]

Tags: community survey

Sensing the World Challenge -- Have You Connected Your Azure Sphere Board to the Cloud?

rscasny — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 14:58:57 GMT

Current Revision posted to Polls by rscasny on 10/11/2021 2:58:57 PM

element14 is running an IoT-focused Design Challenge called Sensing the World Challenge

We are doing this special Design Challenge in partnership with Avnet

For this Design Challenge, the challengers were given an Azure Sphere starter kit.

The challenged is rolled out in two phases:

Phase 1: Get Connected: get your kit connected to the cloud to send data

Phase 2: Sensing the World: use the kit in a real-world application by building a cool project

Challengers are eligible for some great prizes. To get them you have to connect your board to the cloud first.

Prizes:

Phase 1 Prizes - There will be 50 winners selected in total, who will receive gift cards worth the equivalent of $200 USD in their local currency. To be eligible for this prize, you must connect your kit to the cloud and send data once per day for 15 consecutive days, as detailed above. Phase 1 ends September 30th 2019, so get started with Phase 1 as soon as you receive your kit!

The 50 winners will be selected after the October 27th, 2019 close of the design challenge. These winners will be selected randomly from among those who have completed the Phase 1 requirement. You may choose to compete in this challenge and only complete Phase 1, but since the prizes available for Phase 2 are much more exciting we strongly suggest you compete in both! To be eligible for Phase 2 prizes you must have also completed Phase 1.

Phase 2 Prizes - The prizes for Phase 2 are based on the project you build using the Azure Sphere kit. For Phase 2 there will be 10 runner-up prizes and 3 grand prizes. To be eligible for either a runner-up or grand prize you must have completed the Phase 1 requirements.

Each Runner-Up or Grand Prize winner can choose one (1) of the following prize bundles. The availability of the products might depend on your country, so we will work with you to be sure you get an equivalent bundle.

10 Runner-Up Prizes	Xbox One X, Xbox Wireless Controller, Xbox One Stereo Headset, Surface Go Tablet (128GB HD Intel 4415Y 8GB Ram), Surface Keyboard, Surface Mouse OR
	Surface Laptop 2 (256GB HD Intel i7 8GB RAM), Surface Mouse, Surface Pen
3 Grand Prizes	HoloLens 2 (these are currently only for pre-order, we cannot guarantee they will be available at the close of the challenge for purchase) OR
	Surface Book 2 (15” 512GB HD Intel i7 16GB RAM), Surface Mouse, Surface Pen, Xbox One X, Xbox Wireless Controller, Xbox One Stereo Headset OR
	Surface Studio (1TB HD Intel i7 12GB RAM)

Poll Question:

Are you a challenger fin the Sensing the World Challenge? If so, have you connected your Azure Sphere to the cloud? If not, why not?

[Please visit the site to access the poll]

Live at IOT Summit Chicago: Quiz Question--What was the most popular wireless technology discussed in the Wireless Tech Panel Discussion?

rscasny — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 14:58:38 GMT

Current Revision posted to Polls by rscasny on 10/11/2021 2:58:38 PM

Hi element14 community!

I'm live at IOT Summit Chicago being held at the W Hotel (172 W. Adams).

I'm listening to a panel discussion on wireless communication technology iand IOT.

Here's my fun quiz question to you:

What is the most discussed wireless technology discussed by the panel?

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Live at IOT Summit Chicago: Do you want to learn more about Blockchain's role in IOT?

rscasny — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 14:58:38 GMT

Current Revision posted to Polls by rscasny on 10/11/2021 2:58:38 PM

Hi element14 community!

I'm live at IOT Summit Chicago at the W Hotel (172 W. Adams), not far from the Newark element14 offices. On this cold and icy day in Chicago, it's warm in here where I'm listening to a panel discussion on Blockchain's Increasing Role inn IOT.

We haven't talk much about Blockchain on element14.

But, should we? You tell me:

Should the element14 community bring more attention or discuss Blockchain to a greater degree?

[Please visit the site to access the poll]

Who helps you out the most?

gam3t3ch — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 14:58:36 GMT

Current Revision posted to Polls by gam3t3ch on 10/11/2021 2:58:36 PM

With all the smart devices who do you talk to the most?

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What Phase of IoT Are We In?

rscasny — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 14:58:20 GMT

Current Revision posted to Polls by rscasny on 10/11/2021 2:58:20 PM

I recently attended an IoT conference where Sameer Sharma, General Manager, IOT Solutions at Intel, described The Three Phases of the Internet of Things, in the following way:

Connected: The first phase is about connecting the unconnected. 85 percent of assets being utilized today are not connected, and therefore can’t be digitally monitored, maintained, or upgraded.

Smart: The second phase is about making devices and networks smarter – more intelligent. This enables raw data to be transformed into events or actions that are meaningful, whether that’s predicting when a tool is about to fail, or optimizing the supply chain.

Autonomous: The third phase, perhaps the most interesting, is when work flows and processes become more software defined and autonomous. This will allow the world to move at the speed of software. An example is the way Tesla can change features in cars in the field with software updates.

As I heard him speak, I thought it was a useful way to understand the progression of IoT. But there seems to be some cross over between them.

So, what phase do you think we are primarily in right now?

Please vote or add a comment below.

[Please visit the site to access the poll]

Which is best for IoT projects ?

ganesh8899 — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 14:57:58 GMT

Current Revision posted to Polls by ganesh8899 on 10/11/2021 2:57:58 PM

[Please visit the site to access the poll]

What career related skill would you most like to improve?

Instructorman — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 14:57:18 GMT

Current Revision posted to Polls by Instructorman on 10/11/2021 2:57:18 PM

We all know that selecting a career in electronics means accepting a requirement to continuously upgrade skills and capabilities. This requirement is also imposed on anyone that commits to learning electronics as a hobby. Electronics is ever evolving with developments occurring on multiple fronts - Internet of Things is one contemporary example. To stay relevant in this field means learning new skills.

Over the 36 years of my career in electronics I have been involved in hiring many technologists, instructors, engineers, interns, and research staff. I've also been involved in a few firings. I have developed a sense of what I think are the most important skills to stay relevant, and remain employed, in electronics R&D positions. These skills fall into two broad categories: soft skills and hard skills. I've listed a few of each below. You may see one that you have been thinking about working on, or you may have others that should be added to the list.

Some of the choices are fairly broad, so please feel welcome to specify a particular skill via a comment.

Please select the skill you are most interested in improving, or add a missing skill via a comment.

[Please visit the site to access the poll]

Tags: skills, professional development

Future proofing smart city data communication infrastrucure

Instructorman — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 14:57:15 GMT

Current Revision posted to Polls by Instructorman on 10/11/2021 2:57:15 PM

Many municipalities are interested in investing in smart city infrastructure to monitor and manage resource consumption, traffic congestion, et cetera, and to add value to urban living through intelligent analysis of data gathered from sensor networks. The technology that enables monitoring and management on urban scales is emerging. One issue that is holding back many municipalities is the question of what infrastructure to embed in order to allow data communication for all the anticipated sensors that may be installed in the future.

What do you think is the best strategy that will future proof data communication infrastructure in a smart city context?

[Please visit the site to access the poll]

What's Stopping the Internet of Industrial Things?

cstanton — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 14:57:14 GMT

Current Revision posted to Polls by cstanton on 10/11/2021 2:57:14 PM

Is it even Needed?

There, I said it, is that controversial enough? It might be. You have likely heard of the Internet of Things (IoT) by now and what it is, "let's connect everything to the internet! so we then know what it is!" and my suspicion is, that it is not necessarily needed. Or perhaps the concept is just too big to comprehend how it applies right now, let us think about and discuss this, I suggest first we start small.

Starting Small

For a lot of people the first thought that comes to mind with IoT is making a smarter home via home automation. There is nothing more awesome than feeling in control and being informed whether your plants are in need of a water, if your home is secure or keeping a close eye on your front door via a camera when Amazon ring the doorbell. We have even read that a controlled sprinkler system allowed a home owner to save their premises from being burnt down where their neighbours suffered great losses. The success stories are slowly pouring in, we are surely better connected, are we not? We can even look after our pets. Though for every success story there is often a horror tale, but we shall not talk about cars (or Die Hard 4 and its hacked power plant).

However, when we are looking at the scale of the home, we have an isolated scenario, a sandbox, a location where frankly we can do whatever we like. Here in begins to lie the crux of the scale of IoT and its increase to a level where it could be considered to be applied to, let us say for example, a humongous steel production plant.

Thinking Big

I was introduced to industrial environments from a young age, my father being an industrial shift engineer working on the huge and heavy electronics of British Steel. Regularly I would hear tales of trudging up long ladders, getting covered in extra fine coke dust and crud, to take care of the electronics for a conveyor belt system that would put a shopping till to shame, and motors the size of a large living room with junction boxes the size of a human. So, too, came the tales of blast furnaces and metal working, but also of the systems that controlled these. From the computer systems that people sat at to systems which you would not hear about from home.

Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC) are the electronics that are the heavy duty, industrial armoured electronics against the elements and truly harsh conditions. Your typical Beaglebone Black would not cut it where a PLC can do the grunt work, (though with the industrial BBB we're getting better). This is what I see as the type of system which the Internet of Things is trying to replace or supplement in an industrial environment, and it is not going to be cheap to do so.

So just how do you go from a system that is setup to use PLCs to one that wants to be connected to the internet? Or is it already on the internet? Unfortunately for this information, my father retired from Corus as it was then known, before becoming Tata Steel and did not see what upgrades were done to the system.

However, I suspect that the engineers of this community may have seen similar or even more.

What is Stopping the Internet of Industrial Things?

You tell me! You do not have to be specific, I suspect that a number of people are under Non-Disclosure Agreements with their company, but let us be general about this shall we?

[Please visit the site to access the poll]

Tags: industrial, internetindustrial, steel works, internet of things, industry, interference, industrial internet, electrical interference, internet industrial, internet of industrial things, industrialinternet, noise

Polls

migration.user — Fri, 01 Oct 2021 17:56:19 GMT

Current Revision posted to Polls by migration.user on 10/1/2021 5:56:19 PM

Which alignment model should work for the Plant Health Camera

gpolder — Sat, 20 Aug 2016 10:51:31 GMT

Current Revision posted to Polls by gpolder on 8/20/2016 10:51:31 AM

In my Plant Health Camera project, I need to align images from a Pi Camera and a Pi NoIR Camera.

In my blog post ([Pi IoT] Plant Health Camera #8 - Aligning the images ) some alignment models are described.

I'm curious what do you think is the best working alignment model for this application:

[Please visit the site to access the poll]

Tags: image processing, pi-iot, opencv, pi_camera, piiot, piiot challenge, pi_noir