The Internet of Things (IoT) affects more than the way we do business and manufacturing in this country. That technology slowly but surely takes up more and more space in our homes. Today you can control the thermostat, the fridge temperature, and when your vacuum cleaner starts working thanks to the IoT. All from your phone, no matter whether you are on the couch, at the office, or across the country.

That is all exciting, of course, but comes with some concerns. The main source of worry among IoT skeptics is that the technology can compromise consumer privacy. The way your devices collect and transmit data, the type of data, and its safety surely need to come under scrutiny.

The critics of IoT are in no way conspiracy theorists that need to be ignored. Their concerns are legitimate, but they don’t mean we should abandon the technology altogether. Both the federal government and non-government organizations work hard on introducing standards and regulations that will make the Internet of Things safe for consumers and manufacturers alike. Here, we will take a look at some of the most important of these standards and regulations.

What is the Solution?

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

The New York-based IEEE dedicates its time to producing standards for the operation of electronic and electrical devices in consumer’s properties and in industries. They don’t have standards that deal exclusively with the Internet of Things. Nevertheless, a number of IEEE standards relate in some form or another to IoT. The main among these include:

  • IEEE 754 – a standard for floating-point arithmetic;
  • IEEE 802.1AS & IEEE 802.1Q – for local and metropolitan area networks, including synch and time-sensitive application, and media access;
  • IEEE 802.3 and 802.3.1– IEEE Standard for Ethernet and MIB (Management Information Base)
  • IEEE 802.11 – Standard for information technology communications and information exchange between systems;

Note that these are just the tip of the iceberg. Don’t hesitate to visit IEEE’s website for a full list. Knowing the ins and outs of these standards is a must for any person or entity that works or produces IoT devices. Consumers who would like to be more informed about their rights will benefit from acquainting themselves with them as well.

The second draft of the NISTR 8295 has provisions about cybersecurity and privacy in the context of the Internet of Things. The standard regulates the way manufacturers help the consumer make their IoT devices secure. The draft deals mainly with things the manufacturer has to do before they sell the device.

NISTR 8295

California SB 327

In 2020 California introduced its first piece of legislation concerning IoT. SB 327 mainly bans the use of default preset passwords for these devices. That should prevent hackers from accessing these devices, no matter whether they are watches, appliances, or network routers.

The State of Oregon introduced similar laws. We are yet to see such legislation on a federal level. The trend is clear, though. It won’t be long before we have a bill like The DCMS Code of Practice for Consumer IoT Security in the UK. It will introduce a nation-wide safety standard for IoT devices in the US.

https://www.pufsecurity.com/standards

https://standards.ieee.org/initiatives/iot/stds.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_of_Electrical_and_Electronics_Engineers

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/cybersecurity-experts-hail-new-iot-law/

https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/iot-policy