WS 5: IoT – economic opportunities and security challenges

Su Sonia Herring, Claudio Lucena and Ilona Stadnik

• Good privacy standards embedded in Internet of Things (IoT) devices render projects expensive, and manufacturers currently lack the incentive to adopt them, often compromising commercial viability.

• Information about the security and safety of connected devices must be clear, objective and intelligible; an excessive burden on vulnerable users who normally lack the necessary expertise will not improve the overall cybersecurity environment.

• Whether it is through more informal mechanisms or more formal certification initiatives, users want devices to be tested, collaboratively whenever possible, so as to ensure diversity and the confrontation of views, as well as diversity of independent sources, and officially verified, if viable.

• The security and safety of products which are designed for use by children are particularly sensitive, and it could be a good point from which to start setting standards, since people to tend to raise their concerns and awareness when the interests of children are at stake.

• The government shall engage with businesses and citizens for IoT research and development so as to meet the demand for public good (healthcare, transportation, smart cities), while proposing commercial incentives for manufacturers.

• Privacy and security by design should be kept in mind, but we shall work with the industry to set standards at the global level to ensure a cross-border flow of IoT technologies and devices, approaching international organisations that can enforce the regulation of IoT.

• It is necessary to find reliable metrics to check the progress of IoT deployment and how it really contributes to economic growth.