Although it is good to see smart device technology enriching peoples' day to day lives, it is worrying that most UK users do not fully understand what the technology is actually doing and how hacking attacks could impact them. What is the solution to this? Should there be more education for home users, should manufacturers be forced or encouraged to build more secure products, or should it be a combination of both?
History has shown that as a society becomes more sophisticated, people at large have to understand the implications of the new technology. When motors car first appeared on the streets of Britain, drives were required to have a person walking in front with a flag to warn pedestrians. It seems ridiculous now, with the advent of autonomous cars just around the corner, however we should learn the lessons from the past, since the pace of technological change is now so fast that even security professionals struggle to keep up.
In the UK, eight out of 10 technology users have heard of the Smart Home concept, while half use the term IoT. However, only 20 percent of smart home users realise that they live in one. New research from Bitdefender discovered that on average these homes have at least 12 smart devices or accessories, many of which are vulnerable to compromise if they are not adequately protected. The study polled 2037 users from the UK, US, Romania, Australia, France and Germany. One roadblock to large-scale IoT adoption is security. In the UK, only 35 percent of users are concerned that their personal information can be stolen or leaked through smart devices. A third (33 percent) of UK users put the possibility of device theft at the top of their list of concerns.