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Journalist, IFSEC Global

June 28, 2018

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Why implementing centralised IoT standards is such a challenge

The big issue with ensuring there is a global IoT standard to secure the Internet of Things is that there are so many different security requirements across industries that it is hard to apply the same standards to each one.

A further issue is that technology providers advocate the use of specific technology for different devices and have a vested interest in preventing a more centralised system.

“There are so many different verticals using IoT, with each of them having different safety and security standards,” said Olaf Kolkman, chief internet officer at the Internet Society. “A connected device like a smoke detector, for example, has different security properties from that of a medical device.”

Mastercard, for instance, has suggested using tokenisation transactions in IoT applications, while others like Gemalto favour blockchain technology  to make devices smarter and more able to respond to security threats independently without the need for a central authority.

Although there are a lot of different approaches they are all underpinned by common IT security principle like upgradability and stewardship.

If policy makers lead the way by investing in more secure devices, this might encourage IoT suppliers to implement greater security into their devices.

This follows the recent recommendations released by the Internet Society as they called for more companies to be more aware of the life cycle of their devices so that they know when they need to be replaced.

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