IoT News 001

January 2017 Issue One | iottechnews.com

News | Views | Features For the IoT professional

Why IoT needs collaboration to succeed Cisco VP and IoT pioneer Maciej Kranz on change in the industry

How blockchain can inuence the Internet of Things

Prepare for the next generation botnets

Why now is the right time to invest in the IoT

How can the IoT improve the customer experience?

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Editors

Editor's note JAMES BOURNE james@techforge.pub @James_T_Bourne

RYAN DAWS ryan@techforge.pub @Gadget_Ry

RACHAEL POWER rachael@techforge.pub @rachpower10

If you tried to comb through the tech press with the intention of avoiding stories about the Internet of Things (IoT), then you would have a serious task on your hands. From the eventual size of this fascinating market – IDC forecasts global spend will hit $1.29 trillion by 2020 – to the various new initiatives and security worries, it can be a lot of information to take in.

The security headlines in particular can make for shocking reading. “How to fix the Internet of Things security mess” screeches one. “Security experts warn Congress that the Internet of Things could kill people” exhorts another. It’s almost enough to make you leave the industry altogether and take up lion taming as a less stressful occupation.

But, as one industry executive explained to me, it’s all about perspective.

This is the first of what will hopefully be many editions from TechForge which examines the Internet of Things, both from a business and technical perspective. The potential of the Internet of Things is unmistakably vast; imagine

a world where the physical seamlessly dovetails with the digital, and devices, vehicles, buildings, and more are exchanging data in real time, reducing a variety of tasks we see as mundane today to obsolescence.

Yet of course the security side, as well as the continued standards development shows we have an awfully long way to go. The coming pages include best practice and information on smart cities, smart homes, as well as looking at specific industries and integration of even more nascent technologies, such as blockchain.

It will be intriguing to see how the market’s movers and shakers play things out in the coming year – this edition hopefully aims to give an educated and informed perspective on that ecosystem.

James Bourne, Editor

Contents

IN THIS ISSUE...

04 06

p10 Cisco’s Maciej Kranz on why IoT needs collaboration to suceed

10 12 16

p20 The next-generation botnets - and what it means for connected security

p22 How can the European Commission make IoT regulation a success?

18

News

How can blockchain influence the Internet of Things?

Cisco’s Maciej Kranz on why IoT needs collaboration to suceed

Why now is the right time to invest in the IoT

Seven IoT healthcare security best practices

Keeping a city’s heritage while making it smarter

20

The next-generation botnets - and what it means for connected security

22

How can the European Commission make IoT regulation a success?

24 26 30 32 34 36 38 39

Making the IoT enterprise-ready and a reality today

Marketers: Prepare for an IoT consumer-facing bot invasion in 2017 Why CDPs are essential to the world of IoT

How can the IoT improve the customer experience?

How IoT’s personalisation features may change the face of retail How IoT will change shopping as we know it

Q&A - James Monighan, CEO and founder, Monighan Associates

Contact us

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IoT News

— The latest news and research around the Internet of Things

» Seven in 10 enterprise IT buyers now collecting IoT data More than seven in 10 enterprises polled by analyst firm 451 Research say they are gathering IoT data – but security and a perceived lack of return on investment remain major stumbling blocks.

The company’s latest figures, from the most recent Voice of the Enterprise survey, polled almost 1,000 enterprise IT buyers and found firms looking at IoT data went up to its highest number, up three percentage points from the previous quarter.

The analyst firm noted that primary IoT deployments and usage will come from data and transactional intensive workload categories, such as data analytics and security, while data collection and financial, healthcare and industrial analysis were also cited.

Not surprisingly, security concerns were considered the biggest drawback for enterprise IoT initiatives. Half of respondents cited it as the primary impediment, while lack of return on investment was cited by 41% of

those polled. Another concern was a potential skills shortage in the sector; 46% of respondents admitted they were having trouble filling IoTrelated positions.

Yet there was also good news; the research also found 90% of enterprises will increase their IoT spending over the next 12 months, while 42% of respondents say they use IoT data to develop new products, or enhance existing products and services.

» Kudelski Group launches IoT security centre of excellence The Kudelski Group, a digital security provider, has launched its Internet of Things Security Centre of Excellence to help and guide companies to secure their IoT innovations during a product’s lifecycle.

improvement, and IoT cybercrime countermeasures, adding that the key to success is to achieve the right balance between security measures, risk, and cost.

The centre will provide services that not only include hardware and software evaluations and assessments, but also recommendation and implementation of effective design and control frameworks, countermeasures to reduce risks, protect investments and legal advice.

Among the facilities the Swiss group offers are in-depth evaluations of existing products in the laboratory to assess the security of chipsets, hardware and software used in IoT devices and ecosystems, as well as providing advice and services, and embedding sleeper countermeasures to fight against threats.

The Kudelski Group is focusing its efforts on three distinct areas; IoT security, IoT security posture

“While IoT devices have a welldeveloped and strong functional architecture enabling business

operation, the security architecture has its own rules and methods to reach the required level of reliability and security, creating constraints that are potentially not aligned with functional requirements,” the company noted.

“Thanks to their extensive knowhow in optimising security without restraining functional possibilities, the Kudelski Group’s experts help increase device security to lower risks and enhance performance early in the design cycle, using hybrid architectures.”

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» Gemalto and AT&T team up for subscription management following Huawei deal Digital security firm Gemalto has announced a deal with telecoms provider AT&T to help the latter’s worldwide customers deploy new and highly secured Internet of Things applications.

Gemalto’s LinqUS On-Demand Connectivity (ODC) subscription management solution and GSMA M2M 3.1 compliant Embedded SIMs (eSIMs)

streamlines logistics of providing mobile services for enterprises looking for global mobile connectivity for IoT applications and provides improved life cycle support for their subscriptions.

The news comes a month after a similar deal with Huawei was announced, with the two firms entering into a Memorandum of Understanding at the Connect Europe

event in order to further the vision of both companies on global IoT. Rodrigo Serna, president of Gemalto Americas, said: “Operators can provide more IoT services and scale them more quickly with this new platform, which is part of our network of hundreds more around the world.”

» IoT continues to gain momentum in US, argues research A recent report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has revealed the exact picture of American consumers who are getting used to the Internet of Things.

smart watch, VR headset, or wearable.

97% said that they have heard of these types of connected devices, while 65% of those who have yet to buy are interested in purchasing one.

would be willing to see ads on these devices in exchange for an offering from a marketer, such as a coupon (44%), extra features (30%), or access to exclusive games (19%).

Around two-thirds of Americans (62%) polled own at least one IoTconnected device according to the study, such as a connected car, connected TV, fitness tracker, home control system or appliance, internetenabled voice command, smart glasses,

Almost two thirds (65%) of respondents said that they are willing to receive ads on IoT screens while 62% already report of seeing an ad on an IoT connected gadget. More than half (55%) of the US adults — whether IoT device owners or not — said that they

The study also revealed that IoT owners are likely to be parents aged 18-34, with college educations and household incomes above the national USD $50k average.

» Sigfox secures record US coverage with more than 100 cities on board France-based IoT connectivity provider Sigfox has announced more than 100 American cities, including Atlanta, New York City and San Francisco, have deployed its network, totalling 20% population coverage within the US.

such as logistics, asset management, and agriculture.

important connectivity layer in the next industrial revolution.”

Sigfox operates on a low power wide area network (LPWAN), which enables the company to deliver low energy solutions at a reduced cost.

The company described the US as a “priority growth market” for both Sigfox and the IoT in general, with more than 20 channel partners also signed up to aid connectivity in verticals

“By filling a massive unmet market need, we are enabling a new class of connected devices,” said Allen Proithis, president of Sigfox North America. “We are excited to be the

Sigfox continues to expand its operations globally, recently announcing a partnership with SimpleCell Networks and Connected Finland to bring the network to Slovakia and Estonia respectively. The company closed a series E funding round of €150 million (£127m), with the intention to expand to 60 countries and break even by 2018.

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How can blockchain blockchain influence uenc the Internet o of Things?

One o of the key trends of 2017 is the emergence of blockchain technology away from the financial services heartland and into other industries, as Graham Jarvis reports

As the po potential of blockchain grows, of finance s, its use cases outside o grow w with it. A 2014 rreport from IBM entitled ‘Devicee Democracy – Sa Saving the Future of the Internet off Things’ argues that blockchain chain is a “very elegant solution”. Alongside it goes the challenge of building a decentralised Internet of Things that can scale universally while “maintaining private, secure and trustless transactions.”

Why does the report say ‘trustless’ rather than trustworthy? Well it explains that “IoT represents a case of billions of players, not all of which can be trusted – some even malicious – with a need for some form of validation and consensus.” Therefore it argues that blockchain offers a perfect fit with IoT, claiming that it could potentially resolve this key problem. That’s why IBM believes it’s elegant.

Yet, going forward to 2017, this still leave the question of where IoT and lea make good bedfellows. Nigel blockchain mak Walsh, alsh, a partner at Deloitte believes they can certainly ertainlyy be ccomplementary: omplementary: “With IoT, it is about signal and noise, ultimately generating of ating big swathes s athes o fridge or a smart data, whether from a fridg blockchain it’s building, and with block creating a shared ledger within about cr stored and value which data can be stor can be exchanged, all within a highly structured transactional environment”.

He also thinks that the “inherent security of blockchain platforms

offer excellent compatibility with the emerging needs of smart objects and devices, which are able to easily obtain secure digital identity and begin publishing information or transacting securely with other devices, or with people.” people. In addition to being – in his opinion – highly highl secure he comments that the scale and volume of data that’s v coming out of the IoT oT space spac is matched byy the scale at which blockchain block utilises the distributed ecosystem. osystem.

The IoT blockchain should be seen as a platform going forward – but it will only be just one piece of the puzzle

He finds that it is bringing multiple disruptors together and achieving as a disrup result of this “exponential value gains” that can be measured financially and in terms of security.

Blockchain issues Block Nevertheless ertheless Lar Lars Davies, founder and CEO of fintech pro provider Kalypton, pr is moree cynical about blockchain blockchain as a bedfellow for IoT: “The problem oblem with blockchain chain is that it has been touted as a panacea for every requir requirement or use

case, but it is too slow, too expensive, and does not meet legal, regulatory, or technical requirements," he says.

"Can blockchain be available for a particular use case? There are claims, for example, that it can be sped up by bunching transactions together. ether. But this does not solve the other ther problems.

So the question is: 'What is the use case for the IoT?'" In essence essenc he says this is one of o the questions that as yet y needs answering. ans He adds: “The term blockchain is now often used as a brand to describe a layered model: a data layer that has la middleware on top it, and a services middlew

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8 / IoTnews

layer on top of the middleware.

IoT requires usually very secure interactions between devices and to do this you need to secure the devices.” In contrast he says industrial IoT requires the rapid processing of data. This begs companies to ask further questions about whether they can grow their storage rapidly enough because he rightly points out that blockchain grows dramatically.

Davies further comments that blockchain did “provide a good sense of goals, but it tries to achieve those with some heroic assumptions, and without any regards for the legal and regulatory ramifications such as the need for confidentiality or privacy, and the technical requirements, such as security and the need to process the data rapidly.” He therefore claims that there are other technologies that provide the functions required by many IoT use cases.

Blockchain is moving away from financial services and becoming a platform for wider industries – with Walmart and BHP leading the charge

Beyond financial services In spite of Davies’ comments, Patrick Spens, director of transformation & assurance director at PwC believes that blockchain and IoT do actually make good bedfellows. He also agrees that blockchain is moving away from financial services and becoming a platform for wider industries, and offers us some examples: “In the last 10 or so days (as of November 29 2016) Walmart has announced that it is using blockchain for its supply chain and so is the mining company BHP.” He adds: “The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have a given a grant to

Factom, the US blockchain company, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals were published last year for everyone to have a legal identity by 2030.” He says 193 heads of state have signed up to this, and he points out that PwC has sponsored ID 2020, which has been set up to meet the UN’s development goals by using blockchain.

Walsh then comments: “Outside of financial services there are a wide array of applications being explored across all industries from digital rights management through to industry wide supply chain workflow automation (a use which is also introducing IoT capabilities, for example to track the movement and status of shipping containers).” He adds that in the insurance sector insurers may wish to look at the volume and velocity of the data for each vehicle journey to create an aggregate of driving score, for example, “based on something that offers immediate value back to the consumer in a secure way.” The value offered to the driver would be reduced insurance premiums for better driving, and much of this can be achieved using the cloud.

Decentralisation Turning to the question about the link between blockchain and IoT with regards to whether the networks can be decentralised, Davies comments: “IoT systems will be decentralised because it makes no sense to do otherwise, but this doesn’t mean that blockchain is the solution.” He nevertheless believes that “solutions other than blockchain or blockchain based systems may well be far better solutions to the IoT use cases and there are a whole set of tools out there.”

Blockchain is therefore not the only answer to securing IoT, particularly as he explains that the inherent design of blockchain makes it have an issue with scaling. This brings him to remark: “You must fundamentally change the way that blockchains are designed to overcome that issue, and security is an issue too because a permissioned blockchain doesn’t give you any more

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security than a non-permissioned or open blockchain.” What it actually means is that you have less nodes or users, and so he says “this means that the system must ignore one of the founding assumptions of blockchain that its security and resilience depends on having many nodes.”

to fix such issues as broken business models, lack of privacy, high cost, lack of functional value and an inability to withstand change. Trust is key because without it IoT can’t and won’t survive. Therefore security has to be at the heart of any link-up between IoT and blockchain.

Security: “Good luck!”

With regards to the question about whether blockchain can improve security, he exclaims: “The short answer is good luck!” He then elaborates: “As always, it depends on the use case and it’s worth noting that blockchains are being hacked because the original design was predicated on having more honest users than dishonest ones.”

This security issue can nevertheless be dealt with, that is providing companies understand what they are trying to solve and he advises that they should involve people in the design process who really understand security.

“Simply saying it can be solved doesn’t make sense: in what context?” he asks. The question of whether security issues can be resolve is too wide in his opinion because there is a prerequisite to understand blockchain and the way it will be used.

He adds: “Security has to be designed into the solution from the very beginning. Everyone is relying on someone else to solve the security.

How about being radical and assuming that it isn’t secure, and then asking how do we secure it? Don’t assume that someone else has made it secure.”

Case studies However, in spite of his opinions IBM and Samsung’s collaboration, as well as Ethereum’s hackathon arguably showcase the link between blockchain and IoT. IBM and Samsung, for example, are working together to build a proof of concept for the next generation of IoT. It will be based on IBM’s Autonomous Decentralised Peer-to-Peer Telemetry (ADEPT), and IBM says it will be used to serve as ledgers or record-keepers for the billions of transactions that IoT will create. With it the company aims

How about being radical and assuming that it isn’t secure, and then asking how do we secure it? Don’t assume that someone else has made it secure

The future So what lies ahead for the future of the IoT blockchain? Walsh comments: “It is going to continue to evolve, but we need to find out where it fits best.”

While Davies says the future of the IoT blockchain must have an “it depends” attached to it, Walsh believes that IoT and blockchain together offer limitless possibilities. The key to them succeeding though, in his view, is to work out which possibilities are the best ones to consider because sometimes it’s not in a company’s interest to pursue it.

He explains that this is because customers may not be able to handle the level of efficiency and speed.

However, he believes that the IoT blockchain should be seen as a platform going forward before warning that it will only be just one piece of the puzzle. He concludes: “Just because you can doesn’t mean that you always should deploy it.” That rings true because blockchain might not always influence IoT.

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Cisco’s Maciej Kranz on why IoT needs collaboration to succeed Before implementing IoT technologies, Harley Davidson took 18 months to complete a custom bike order. Now, as Maciej Kranz explains in his new book, it takes them two weeks. Here the Cisco VP tells IoT News about the lessons your business can learn — Words: James Bourne It’s 8am in Silicon Valley when Maciej Kranz, vice president of the corporate technology group at Cisco, picks up the phone in his office and speaks to your reporter for this feature.

who have heard about IoT, and giving them a step by step guide to not only get started, but prepare for a 10-year journey of transforming their enterprise.

Not particularly unusual, of course.

Yet for a company whose products include WebEx and whose raison d’etre – at least, one of them – is around web conferencing and getting work done wherever as well as whenever, it’s interesting to note Kranz likes to promote an atmosphere among his team where office participation is encouraged.

The book also muses on potential mistakes that can be made and how to overcome them, or avoid them altogether. A slide deck on ‘generation IoT’ from Kranz offers four points of failure; ‘IoT in isolation’, ‘devices not data’, ‘immature technology’, and ‘doing it alone’. Working in concert with other players is inferred in all four. “There is a structural change happening in the industry,” he says. “In many of these traditional industries, the market structure was one company doing it all, so one company will come in and build the whole train station, or the whole oil rig.

“As virtual as a Cisco environment is, in our job it’s so important that an expert in blockchain, an expert in cloud, an expert in analytics for example… they all run into each other in the hallway, they have a conversation, and good things happen as a result of that,” Kranz explains.

It’s fascinating to see how certain companies and departments get their work done; yet this sense of collaboration is a recurrent theme.

Kranz has recently released a book, Building the Internet of Things, which in his words is aimed at companies

Building the Internet of Things: Implement New Business Models, Disrupt Competitors, Transform Your Industry Maciej Kranz

“Into the model that IoT technology with its speed and cost structure is driving, which is a collaborative environment when focusing on open systems, open standards and a partner ecosystem, you will usually have three, four or five companies putting their heads together in developing solutions,” Kranz adds.

“I believe that the companies who stick to the 20th century ‘one company doing it all’ model will be the losers, and those that embrace the open systems and collaborative environment will be the winners.”

This helps answer the question of an overall vision, but the book details four of the most mature use cases that businesses of all sizes could take advantage of. For the connected enterprise section, Kranz cites Harley Davidson as a pioneer. Before utilising

IoT technologies, it would take two weeks on average to fix problems on the plant floor, and 18 months to go from custom order to delivery. Now, it takes two weeks to go from door to door, and only minutes to sort out issues on the floor.

Remote monitoring and management, predictive analytics, and preventative maintenance are also covered – and it is in the latter which Kranz believes is the most impressive use case, albeit the most difficult to implement. A mining company in Australia, which previously lost $2 million per day in lost profits if a truck breaks down on site, installed a maintenance system which gives up to three months warning that an engine part is about to break down. “I think it’s important because these are the most common, most useful use cases that any company can implement,” says Kranz.

Kranz has been around the technology for almost as long as it is possible to be, although like many emerging sectors, the seeds were sown elsewhere. In Cisco’s case, it was around the turn of the millennium, taking Industrial Ethernet and putting it in non-office areas. Yet it was not until the turn of the decade that the real push arrived; and Kranz explains the factors which helped make that decision possible.

“One was the emergence of line of business as a major technology buying centre,” he says. “Traditionally we had IT, service providers, and consumers, and we added line of business… they look for business outcomes and solutions for business outcomes.

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“The second one was the convergence of IT and OT – until that time, IT and OT did not talk to each other – and the third one was a move to open systems and open standards. So, this basically drove us to say yes, well let’s go big on IoT.” When asked about challenges facing the industry right now, the openness is seen as both a blessing and a curse, but perhaps not surprisingly the biggest hurdle remains security.

“We all have responsibility here,” says Kranz. “Traditionally vendors did not invest sufficiently in IoT security, and the recent attacks – for example using default name and password – was something of a wake-up call for the industry” .

Kranz agrees that both end users and the industry need to do their bit, but adds that businesses have moved ‘miles’ from where they were five years ago, to today. “Businesses are moving from sort of a ‘security by obscurity’ – I’m not going to connect my plant to the network and thus I’ll be secure – which was debunked, to a much more sophisticated approach, basically extending enterprise architectures into the entire enterprise, with a before, during, and after approach,” he says.

As for the future at Cisco, it’s essentially more of the same, with Kranz citing the acquisition of IoT platform provider Jasper– “they are doing fantastically well” – and the Open Fog Consortium initiative as benchmarks of the company’s outlook.

“Our strategy has been driving digital transformation by developing vertical solutions based on horizontal platform capabilities,” says Kranz. “Our focus has been on making sure that we work together with the industry to create and maximise this opportunity.

We’re developing both platform capabilities as well as solution and go to market capabilities – you would see more of these activities from us moving forward.”

Cisco is certainly up for the ride; and perhaps with the book’s help, more businesses will be tempted to come along too.

"I believe that the companies who stick to the 20th century ‘one company doing it all’ model will be the losers"

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Why now is the right time to invest in the IoT Sukamal Banerjee, executive vice president for engineering and R&D services at HCL Technologies, explains how companies who don’t invest in IoT now will stay in the starting blocks – and what has to be done to get started

Sukamal Banerjee, HCL Technologies

According to McKinsey Global Institute, the IoT will have a potential economic impact of up to $11.1 trillion by 2025, amounting to about 11% of the world economy. While at the moment we are seeing more buzz around applications of the IoT in the consumer space, McKinsey says a far greater impact will be seen in the enterprise space, which will account for $9.2 trillion of the total economic value in its forecast.

With so much value on the table, organisations will need to act fast to ensure they stay ahead of the curve and can enjoy the full range of benefits.

Where will the innovations occur?

The real innovation in the coming future of the IoT is set to take place behind the scenes, in the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). The immediate impact will be increased efficiency and improved asset utilisation. The IoT will help enterprises adopt new outcome based business models, enabling new revenue streams through datadriven services.

From manufacturers to utilities, transportation, aerospace and defence, the ability to have “intelligent assets” provides a huge opportunity to optimise activities right across the organisation. Maintenance scheduling, repair avoidance, energy consumption,

and asset utilisation will provide a whole gamut of new offerings and services, which will cut across not just functional silos of one company, but traverse the entire value chain.

For example, we have recently seen a major office services provider improving revenues by more than $100m in just one year using the IoT and cloud to automate the replenishment of one of its consumable commodities. Similarly, healthcare industry studies have shown that the continuous tracking of patients’ health through remote monitoring can reduce readmissions by almost 45%.

Realising the full value of IoT The true transformational value of IoT cannot be realised just through connecting existing assets (or making them intelligent): they need to be at the centre of a value cycle. This involves generating data from the ‘Things’ in order to streamline processes, change people’s actions and ultimately improve productivity.

For example, for an airline manufacturer, enabling an engine to transmit live data such as vibration level, temperature and spare parts’ maintenance history can optimise the maintenance, repair, and overhaul processes to replace faulty parts, by the right people, at the right time.

Thus, the cycle of things to things

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(transmitting data), things to people (dashboards) and people to things (triggers or actions to be taken) needs to be enabled to realise the full potential of IoT in the future. There are of course situations where the final action is also a thing to thing, thus eliminating human intervention.

Making it happen To drive IoT adoption, the real focus should be on connecting capitalintensive physical infrastructure or assets, such as plants, hospital equipment, electric grids, field vehicles and pipelines. It’s also important to realise that an IoT program won’t mean the same thing to everyone; it will all depend on the business problem you want to solve. As such, enterprises must take the time to step back and define the fundamental problem that needs to be solved.

identifying business processes to be streamlined for efficiency and identifying new opportunities to offer new value to customers – both “within the four walls” and “outside the four walls” of the enterprise.

Establish a definitive roadmap for business outcomes: When creating these, it is critical to have a clear focus on an agile, flexible approach that is capable of supporting the business requirements identified.

Identify the right partners from the IoT ecosystem: This could involve consulting, technology integration and specialist teams in emerging technological fields. When looking for partners, it is important to put the idea of a ‘quick win’ to one side, and instead identify those who can offer suitable long-term support as enterprise use of the IoT evolves over the coming years.

Companies are already using smart connected devices to solve common problems and transform the way they operate – smart vending machines flag when they need replenishment, connected cars sense problems before they become catastrophic, intelligent grids automatically monitor energy production, telematics allow the location, movements, status, and behaviour of fleets of vehicles to be monitored and smart elevators reduce waiting times. IoT is not the future - it is here.

Invest in your own teams: Invest with the right blend of process knowledge, technology, and skillsets that drive transformation and change management.

The problem for enterprises is that IoT adoption is incredibly complicated.

They must consider how they will integrate a whole spectrum of technologies, evaluate a number of potential use cases, and identify the process and people-related changes that need to be orchestrated and implemented. As a result, the journey to IoT should be broken down into manageable steps, with five key stages:

With billions of dollars of value at stake and real potential for industry disruption approaching fast in the rearview mirror, the journey of IoT adoption has to start now, or there is a very real risk that businesses could miss out and fall behind the competition. As with past technological innovations, it is the early adopters who are set to thrive, while those who begin their journey late face a constant battle to catch up.

Establish clear business objectives for the IoT program: This involves

It’s now or never; time to set out on the road to the IoT.

Establish formal processes for the path forward: Alongside this, establish a framework of governance for innovation, risk management and change management to drive the journey to the IoT forward, and ensure the vehicle is being steered in the right direction.

With billions of dollars of value at stake and real potential for industry disruption approaching fast in the rear-view mirror, the journey of IoT adoption has to start now

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SPONSORED

Why beacons beckon: the future of the Internet of Things with Bluetooth 5 What will it take for the Internet of Things market to grow? That’s the question on every technologist’s mind. Fortunately, Bluetooth® technology has the answer.

The IoT has moved beyond hype and onto reality – with a form of it existing in many people’s homes and workplaces. Wearables are tracking fitness levels. Smart thermostats are controlling building temperature. And connected health devices are helping with outpatient care. Yet, what we see today is just a tip of the iceberg.

To grow the market, interoperability, cost and ease-of-use need to be improved. These are the factors that will allow the IoT to penetrate the market, and add the value that will appeal to users worldwide. With that in mind, Bluetooth has taken the shutters off its latest specification: Bluetooth 5.

Bluetooth technology is already central to people’s lives, providing safe and efficient ways to instantly transmit data. Now, with this new update, the adoption rate for wirelessly connected products is set to grow even further.

Benefits of the new Bluetooth 5 include: Four times the range Bluetooth 5 makes it possible to take connections beyond just speakers or smartwatches. Instead, data can be transmitted seamlessly across entire homes and in a range of devices. New use cases for outdoor, industrial and

commercial applications that require longer range or transmission through walls are now possible.

Eight times the broadcast messaging capacity Broadcast messaging capacity is raised by a massive 800%. This means greater amounts of contextually relevant data can be sent and received. Connectionless services such as location-specific information and navigation are also improved.

This update will help propel the next generation of beacons.

Twice the speed Speed is doubled by up to 2Mbps, without any increase in energy consumption, thus addressing previous consumer concerns about slow connections. Instead, users can enjoy super-responsive connectivity between compatible high-powered devices.

Bluetooth 5 also offers improved wireless coexistence. It allows for a more productive tech environment by limiting the interference caused by other wireless technology using similar bandwidths. This is something that will be crucial for tomorrow’s IoT landscape, and is integral in areas where wireless technologies are heavily used today.

Bluetooth 5 is the new standard and is here today.

Don’t get left behind.

Download our eGuide ‘Rethinking the future: Bluetooth 5, beacon technology and the Internet of Things’ to learn more. http://www.bluetooth.com/ bluetooth5

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SPONSORED

Beacons of the future These new IoT developments are powering the beacon revolution.

Beacons are low-cost, low-power transmitters that allow their owners to broadcast data to nearby portable devices. They’ve already been used in retailing and payment systems with great success, and research from ABI suggests that the beacon market will continue to grow, at a rate of 133% over the next five years. Now is the time for everyone else to get involved.

Combined with Bluetooth 5, beacon technology represents a huge opportunity to grow our smart homes and smart cities. In part, because they allow greater connectivity possibilities for developers, who can now be more ambitious and adventurous with the technology they choose to build Bluetooth into.

Imagine, for example, local authority services powered by beacons and updating citizens with news about traffic levels and hospital wait times.

These are the ideas and capabilities that will reshape our society and change the way people live and work.

What’s more, they will be driven by Bluetooth

Manufacturing sites using beacons to track the flow of materials to improve logistics and processes. Or supermarkets reminding you, via your

phone that your fridge is out of milk when you walk by the dairy aisle.

These are the ideas and capabilities that will reshape our society and change the way people live and work.

What’s more, they will be driven

by Bluetooth. We’re already on this journey – the technology is currently trusted and used by consumers all over the world. This latest release now sets in motion countless future developments in consumer, commercial and industrial settings.

In a ubiquitously connected world, Bluetooth 5 allows for effortless connectivity without the burden of a permanent link. Some devices appearing on the market today are already forgoing the audio jack, signalling the wireless tomorrow is imminent.

With the right connectivity holding the entire IoT ecosystem together, the future is limitless.

Total Bluetooth enabled Device Shipments: World Markets, Forecast: 2016 to 2021 End Product Market Segment

Shipments

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

CAGR 16-21

Cellular

(Millions)

2,338.2

2,501.8

2,646.8

2,775.9

2,894.6

3,003.5

5%

PCs/ Peripherals

(Millions)

330.1

349.4

368.9

384.1

403.2

416.8

5%

Mobile Devices

(Millions)

180.4

179.0

175.2

170.5

163.5

154.1

-3%

Networking

(Millions)

9.0

18.6

29.0

39.8

51.1

62.7

47

Connected Home

(Millions)

335.7

379.4

429.8

474.8

520.2

554.0

11%

Smart Home

(Millions)

10.3

20.8

39.5

71.3

120.2

179.1

77%

Automotive

(Millions)

64.0

74.2

86.4

92.3

99.0

103.4

10%

Wearables and Healthcare Devices

(Millions)

116.4

146.4

174.5

202.4

232.1

265.0

18%

Beacons

(Millions)

8.2

26.2

83.1

217.5

372.0

565.3

133%

Source: ABI Research

www.bluetooth.com

16 / IoTnews

Seven IoT healthcare security best practices Stephen Moramarco, researcher for the InfoSec Institute, looks at how IoT medical devices need to be secured to protect vital data

As the Internet of Things continues to exponentially expand across all industries, healthcare organisations using these devices become even more vulnerable to hackers and thieves.

Not only does hacking a hospital or other facility potentially give them access to a trove of personal data, but surreptitious control of these smart, connected machines can literally mean life or death for the patient, thereby increasing leverage. Add to this the fact that the industry is playing catch-up in its security processes and it’s no surprise that healthcare has already become the number one target for attacks.

Generally speaking, IoT medical devices are a wonderful new technology that will have many positive benefits for the state of the world’s heath. It is also not going to go away – the IoT healthcare market was estimated at $60.4 billion in 2014 and is expected to increase to $136.8 billion by 2021. Therefore, it is imperative that healthcare organisations not only adopt the new technologies, but also ensure safeguards are in place to protect hospitals, patients, and data. Here is an overview of some best practices.

1

Proper configuration of devices. As explained in Infosec Institute’s Top Five Cyber Security Vulnerabilities, one of the most common mistakes with IoT and networked equipment is that they are simply not set up, updated, or encrypted correctly. This includes devices that are running outdated

software or firmware, machines still in debug mode, or factory security settings that have not been changed.

These vulnerabilities can be easily scanned for remotely and exploited by hackers seeking entry. Therefore, step one of the plan is to insist that all IoT devices are updated regularly and strong passwords or encryption set.

Take all machines out of debug, default, or factory mode.

2

Segment networks and access.

It’s pretty easy to understand that hospitals with a wide open network are more vulnerable to data thieves or ransomware attacks. However, many organisations still do not take the common sense step in closing off their system access. IoT Security Lab reported on a demonstration by security researcher Shawn Merdinger at DEFCON 2014 where he was able to locate thousands of these devices, including cardiac defibrillators and fetal monitors, just by “tickling” one hospital workstation. Create and implement a plan reconfiguring smaller networks and restricting access to only authorised personnel. If necessary, create a separate Wi-Fi for guests.

3

Monitor everything constantly. As the American Hospital Association points out in their white paper on cybersecurity and hospitals, while the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requires data to be secure, this does not necessarily cover the networks themselves. That’s why, in addition to

The IoT healthcare market was estimated at $60.4 billion in 2014 and is expected to increase to $136.8 billion by 2021

17 / IoTnews

being HIPAA compliant, it is essential that hospitals have a professional dedicated to information security, often referred to as infosec. Infosec officers must develop written set of protocols along with a chain of command to follow if and/or when a breach occurs. All networks must be watched at all times for any possible hacks, particularly through the IoT devices, which are often less secure and whose breaches can be more difficult to detect.

4

Keep staff vigilant. Awareness and education are two key factors in the safety and security of your medical facility. This can be in the form of online courses, visual aids, and regular staff meetings. Ask all personnel to report suspicious activity of any devices or workstations. Instruct employees using these systems to create strong passwords and not to write them down or share with multiple users. (In the real world, with mission critical responses needed, this may not be possible; if a password is written down and/or shared, it should be kept in a locked drawer and rotated regularly.) Signage for workstations can be created inhouse or downloaded from STOP. THINK.CONNECT., a cybersecurity awareness program sponsored by the Dept. of Homeland Security. A Internet of Things tip sheet can be found on the

DHS website, which can be posted or distributed to staff.

required to enroll in and complete an education program.

5

6

Conduct regular drills. Practicing responses with real-world ransomware or hacking drills is a crucial element to safety and preparedness in emergency situations.

Refer to Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program for guidelines.

Analyse the response time and decision making process during these events and learn from mistakes. Administrators

The transformation of healthcare via the IoT will truly be revolutionary, so long as all persons and entities involved work together

should also run drills surreptitiously using automated phishing simulators.

These types of programs allow you to create emails that mimic the style used in common phishing attacks (InfoSec Institute has one called SecurityIQ); anyone who gets “caught” can be

Start with security in mind. On the manufacturing side, security has often been an afterthought or added later in the process. “Cybersecurity has to be baked into the equipment, systems and networks at the very start of the design process,” Homeland Security' with 'Stuart McClure, then EVP at McAfee, told the US House Committee on Homeland Security back in 2012. McAfee suggests a secureby-design approach that works in collaboration with governments as well as security researchers. Offer a reward for those white hat hackers that find and report weaknesses.

7

Stay connected and informed. As the IoT evolves, so are its standards and protocols. Keep up to date with manufacturers, follow your hospital’s protocols for reporting problems to the FDA. Stay in the loop with news as it relates to healthcare and IoT by subscribing to industry newsletters – such as this publication, for instance.

The transformation of healthcare via the IoT will truly be revolutionary, so long as all persons and entities involved work together – not only for the health of the patient but the security of their data.

18 / IoTnews

Keeping a city’s heritage while making it smarter Roberto Minerva of the IEEE discusses the challenges of building smart cities – and uses a unique example. Words: James Bourne

©iStock.com/RudyBalasko

From ancient Rome to the Renaissance, maintaining Italy’s architectural heritage while keeping up with technological advances is vital.

Smart cities are understandably a clear case in point. With its unique layout, Venice certainly makes an interesting case study as to whether it could become smart – and it was the city which Roberto Minerva, chairman of the IEEE Internet of Things Initiative, chose as the case study for a recent webinar.

“Venice is very challenging,” Minerva explains. “If you’re deploying a large number of sensors in a city like Venice you will have the problem of the water, where to put them, how to connect them, so the idea of Venice as a smart city was to confront these kinds of issues.”

Even if Venice is not your average environment, it exemplifies how developing a smart city is not a one size fits all process. Machina Research recently outlined three models to a mature smart city; an ‘anchor’, where the city adds working applications in series; a ‘platform’, where the city gets the infrastructure right before applications are delivered afterwards; and a ‘beta city’, which involves experimenting with various applications without a finalised plan for full deployment.

Minerva puts it a different way. “There is not a single model for the city,” he

explains, “it should be a combination, let’s say, of the technology, and the ability of the technology to capture a large number of data in that specific environment. Then there is to be a cultural and social perspective that says – what do you want to solve in that city with smartness? And what is the culture, the typical way of living in that city that is to be taken care of?”

“The smart cities, from my perspective, represent a clear challenge to the Internet of Things” This could be a number of things – reduced traffic congestion, greater healthcare, better access to information – but one aspect many do not consider is the link between cities. Minerva puts it this way: if Milan is designated a smart city, but Rome is not, then with so many people and so much business flocking between the two, how can Milan be truly smart? Again, it is the cultural side which kicks in.

“My view is there won’t be smart cities, but smart interconnected territories,” says Minerva. “The cities [will] have to create a kind of common platform, so they have to form other data in a singular way. All the data [will be] homogeneous, we will use the data

and provide this kind of solution for all of the territory.”

To get there for the time being, Minerva describes the concept of a ‘programmable’ city, in two parts.

“Before programming a city, you have to make an initial step – you deploy the sensor in order to make the city measurable,” he explains. “Then you have to decide what kind of measure – are you measuring the traffic, goods, temperature, the quality of the air?

“Once you have achieved the measures and you have deployed large and consistent numbers of sensors, we get to the second level. You can get the data and maybe also make some action on top of the city, so to speak, in order to change the behaviour of the city.”

The data layer, in particular, is arguably more important than anything else.

“The smart cities, from my perspective, represent a clear challenge to the Internet of Things, especially to the current development,” says Minerva.

“There should be a layer that is offering access to data and functionality of different sensors – there should be a common infrastructure, API, common platform that would allow developers to develop services and functionalities – and this is not happening so far.

“Smart cities are a concentration of the IoT problems – if we solve this problem for the smart cities, we would solve this problem for all of the Internet of Things environment.”

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20 / IoTnews

The next-generation botnets - and what it means for connected security The IoT threat landscape will continue to accelerate in 2017. F-Secure's Sean Sullivan outlines the ecosystem and ways service providers and businesses can fight back. Words: Ryan Daws

Botnets have been the cause of some crippling DDoS attacks over the years. Mitigation specialists protect companies from traditional malwareinfected PC botnet attacks through absorbing the high traffic and filtering the connections, but a new generation of botnets originating from increasing numbers of insecure IoT devices are fighting back with unprecedented volumes of traffic.

Sean Sullivan is the security advisor at F-Secure, and it falls under his jurisdiction to follow developments in the IoT space. We tapped his knowledge to find out how businesses can handle the rise of IoT botnets which have plagued businesses and their users over the past year.

PCs and smartphones are used in number around the globe, providing the perfect medium for a distributed attack. Most people will only have the one PC and/or smartphone, but the idea of the Internet of Things is to connect every ‘thing’ to the internet.

Things are far more prevalent in the world than people, and the general insecurity of these devices provides hackers with the digital equivalent of a hydrogen bomb to launch a DDoS. The recent 'Mirai' botnet attacks broke records for the volume of DDoS traffic by harnessing around 152,000 hijacked IoT devices. In the most highprofile attack on Dyn, traffic reached an incredible 1.2 Tbps and took down several of its large clients including Twitter and PlayStation Network. For comparison, the last record-setting

DDoS attack before Mirai was on the BBC this time last year which peaked at 600 Gbps of traffic.

It's little surprise mitigation services had difficulty in dealing with the demand when even the biggest attack using a more traditional botnet was half that of Mirai. "It's traffic I don't think anything has been built to withstand," says Sullivan.

In the most highprofile attack on Dyn, traffic reached an incredible 1.2 Tbps and took down several of its large clients

Mirai's code is open source and has been dissected for clues about its origin. Most of the code is English, but there are lines of Russian which could either signal where it was developed or be planted to cause speculation in a world concerned about Russia’s cyber influence. One string translates to "I love chicken nuggets" in English.

Sullivan hasn't witnessed anything to imply an IoT botnet like Mirai has been used by any state yet to carry out attacks. Based on previous statesponsored cyber attacks, when a state is involved, the standard practice is to hire individuals without government links to undertake it.

"A lot of these botnets are put together by young people who are initially gamers who DoS competition," explains Sullivan. "A player could be giving you a hard time in a multiplayer game and you hire a bot to knock them off. Then you say 'Why don't I just build my own?' and it's a slippery slope from there."

Offering another interesting glimpse behind the scenes of a botnet, Mirai is designed to avoid IP ranges belonging to specific organisations such as the US Postal Service, Department of Defense, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, HP, and General Electric. The idea here is to avoid drawing attention from those with significant resources, but the malware's eventual use in the most high-profile DDoS attack in history shows it was a naïve attempt to cover-up its tracks and indicates a likelihood it was developed by a skilled but not experienced coder.

Mirai is also territorial in that it has been coded to eradicate other worms and trojans; such as the 'Anime' malware which competes to compromise IoT devices. This helps Mirai enhance its attack potential while preventing similar removal attempts from other malware.

DDoS attacks have the potential to cause vast amounts of damage.

This harm could be financial, or even physical in the increasing number of examples where the IoT is used for the likes of medical and transport systems.

In research conducted by Incapsula, the average DDoS cost is assessed to be

21 / IoTnews

about $500,000 and can have a lasting impact through loss of customers and tarnished brand reputation.

The power of today's botnets makes downtime almost unavoidable, but it's how quick a company recovers which determines the effect it has.

"Having the capacity to recover from a DDoS attack is more important than withstanding it," claims Sullivan.

"A bank could invest a lot into extra resources such as bandwidth and not need it most the time – costing money and passing fees onto customers – or it could prepare to bounce back quickly."

One such example is the DDoS attacks in 2014 by hacker group Lizard Squad on the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live gaming networks. While the Xbox team were able to recover quickly, PlayStation had weeks of downtime. This quick recovery became a PR win for Xbox.

"You can get competent services by those with experience in DDoS mitigation, but it's ultimately only going to be as good as the last best attack," says Sullivan. "Eventually there's going to be an attack that can't be withstood, but you should be ready to bounce back into action because that lowers incentives for attackers to do what they do."

The most effective method of targeting botnets is to remove their source, hijacked devices. Continued reports of compromised IoT devices will create fear of investments and prevent

©iStock.com/Bakal

the industry from reaching its potential.

According to research from Accenture, 47 percent of consumers already have concerns about purchasing IoT devices.

One important step towards securing IoT devices will be to establish relevant standards and regulations, but it's not a simple task with all the various parts vendors. "There are very few companies out there building everything from

One proposed solution is for ISPs to filter out suspect traffic before it hits the home

scratch, most are using 'copy and paste' components hardware-wise and it's made as a turnkey solution, not for security," explains Sullivan. "Routers are the more interesting one that are going to be regulatory. They need to be something that can be patched easily, remotely, and be required to keep up-to-date."

Routers themselves have been subject to high-profile DoS attacks in recent months – in particular, those provided by TalkTalk in the UK and Deutsche Telekom in Germany. A variant of Mirai caused these routers to go offline through exploiting a TR-064 protocol vulnerability. The affected routers have since been patched.

"Those particular routers weren't vulnerable enough to be compromised, but they also weren't robust enough to stand up to worm-like activity," says Sullivan. "Multiple sources were scanning each of these routers per second trying to add them to the collective, and the routers just gave up."

One proposed solution is for ISPs to filter out suspect traffic before it hits the home. In the example of Deutsche Telekom, the provider could block scanning activity before it reaches the routers of their customers to help prevent the issues we saw last year from reoccurring.

Problems with IoT botnets will likely increase over the coming years; not just from Mirai, but other, more advanced malware. Security researchers at ESET have already identified a new malware called Rakos looking to steal Mirai's crown. While attacks may be almost inevitable, businesses will be judged on their preparations to bounce back and minimise the incentives for hackers to carry out a DDoS.

22 / IoTnews

How can the European Commission make IoT regulation a success?

Sam Rehman, CTO of Arxan Technologies, analyses the recent moves from the European Commission to improve the security of Internet-connected devices, from cameras to consumer electronics According to many security industry pundits, the Internet of Things represents a ticking clock.

This is partially because of the sheer volume of the devices that would be deployed, but also because of the fact that they will be deployed everywhere and will soon be part of everyone's day to day lives.

Sam Rehman, Arxan Technologies

By 2020 Gartner estimates that 20 billion devices like security cameras, routers and digital video recorders, not to mention heart monitors, dialysis machines and insulin pumps

will be connected to the internet – the majority with only the most rudimentary of security protection mechanisms in place to prevent cybercriminals from hijacking them for their malicious intent.

The recent router attacks experienced by the Post Office and TalkTalk in the UK and the US Dyn DNS DDoS attack offer a salutary lesson in how IoT devices can be harnessed by hackers. The pernicious Mirai botnet, which enlisted CCTV cameras into zombie nodes that took down leading

23 / IoTnews

critical infrastructure, and in turn social media sites like Twitter and eBay, offers clear evidence of the potential for such attacks to wreak havoc in the home, in critical infrastructure services and in every area of public life as we move towards the smart world nirvana.

Whenever we see pressure for implementing security measures, the two main driving factors are governments, and the aftermath of large, impactful data breaches. Most organisations unfortunately tend to wait for either others in their industry, or themselves, to be affected by a major breach before deploying necessary measures and controls.

Crucially, as demonstrated by the Mirai and Hajime botnets, IoT means an organisation or individual is no longer just responsible for their own network security. Their devices, if not properly secured, could be used as a hop node to attack others, and the liability of this has to be considered as well.

Whilst we should applaud the Commission's stated intention to establish guidelines to secure these devices, legislation alone risks becoming just another box ticking exercise if not properly conceived and implemented. To create meaningful policies, the legislation must be stringent enough to cover a wide gamut of devices; ranging from endpoint devices like CCTV cameras and sensors like car alarms, through to intelligent interfaces embedded in networks and applications at the server, gateway and application programming interface (API) level.

According to a report by Euractiv. com, the rules under consideration by the EU will be part of a plan to overhaul the EU’s telecommunications laws involving some kind of labelling system for connected devices, to require them to meet certain security criteria in order for them to be considered ‘safe’.

Crucially, as demonstrated by the Mirai and Hajime botnets, IoT means an organisation or individual is no longer just responsible for their own network security

While in itself this appears to be a good idea, the certification process must be both transparent and unambiguous and testing must entail breaking security gates at every point of the system in order to be effective. Assuming the EU regulators are able to introduce security tests and procedures that are both easy to administer and comprehensive, this could serve as an excellent benchmark for both manufacturers and consumers and provide the much-needed rigour that is required to augment the existing poor security practices currently being implemented in the IoT sector.

On the other hand, if the legislation is poorly conceived and implemented it runs the risk of seriously jeopardising

the growth of the newly emerging markets for connected devices, which the EU estimates has the potential to generate one trillion euros by 2020 and deliver significant economic prosperity to the region. A prerequisite for success in drafting the new legislation will be the active involvement of a crosssection of industry experts, in order to develop a workable approach, which must be non-onerous from a cost and resource perspective, but able to offer the necessary safeguards to protect consumers without burdening the manufacturers and stifling innovation in this burgeoning industry.

It will also be important to recognise that different sectors of the market need treating differently, and we need to start with risk assessment for different use cases in order to figure out what the attack vectors are we will be trying to block. For example, in the case of healthcare devices such as heart monitors or insulin pumps or connected cars, where lives are potentially at risk, a different level of regulation will be required to wearable devices like watches or cameras.

Ultimately, the litmus test of the regulation’s success will be its ability to provide manufacturers with a benchmark to protect both themselves from litigation and users from attacks on the devices, whilst simultaneously maintaining strict privacy policies regarding the data contained therein. If properly implemented it could advance user confidence in such devices, but if poorly conceived and administered, it has the potential to strangle the fledgling industry at birth.

24 / IoTnews

Making the IoT enterpriseready and a reality today Connected ‘things’ will completely revolutionise the way we work and the way organisations do business together. In order to make the enterpriseready IoT a reality, organisations need a unified endpoint management (UEM) solution that securely manages and secures IoT endpoints and the data they produce and use at scale, writes Blake Brannon.

across virtually every industry, with Salesforce predicting use of enterprise wearables will more than triple over the next two years. With these compelling use cases in mind, implementing smart glasses and augmented reality (AR) applications in the workplace will soon be a business imperative.

Blake Brannon, VMware AirWatch

IoT is here. According to several studies, enterprises will spend $255 billion on IoT by 2019 and investors could see a 27% revenue increase by 2018.

Whether you are in manufacturing, healthcare, retail or government, IoT is rapidly transforming and disrupting traditional business models and operational processes. IoT can drive productivity by connecting people, data, and things, automate business processes and enable next-generation customer experiences.

Unlike standard mobile technologies, ‘things’ have the ability to uniquely enable workers with businesscritical data or apps in ways that used to be impossible. For example, wearables are giving operations and field service workers the ability to perform tasks while simultaneously accessing information and applications hands-free.

Wearable devices – such as smartwatches and smart glasses – have proven particularly valuable

Considerable investments in IoT have already been made in the following industries and use case scenarios: • Healthcare: ‘Connected hospitals’ are now using sensor data in medical equipment, such as MRI machines, to alert hospital staff when repairs are needed. Healthcare professionals are also using wearables and home health monitoring systems to improve patient care with real-time monitoring of patient health.

Unlike standard mobile technologies, ‘things’ have the ability to uniquely enable workers with business-critical data

• Transportation: Logistics companies are starting to use sensors and smart software to monitor fleet vehicles in a variety of ways, from temperature (for vehicles transporting food or precious cargo) to real-time repair alerts. Companies like DHL are benefiting from the use of smart

glasses to optimise warehousing operations like material handling and inventory management. Warehouses can drastically reduce picking errors and search time by equipping workers with smartwatches for handsfree access to context-sensitive information or smart glasses to, not only scan materials, but find them faster with digital navigation.

Wearables can also improve worker safety by eliminating the need for workers to hold a handheld barcode scanner while handling materials in a potentially hazardous work environment.

• Manufacturing: Boeing has cut production time by 25 percent and error reduction to effectively zero by equipping their wire-harness techs with smart glasses and APX Skylight.

Instead of constantly switching back and forth between harnesses and laptops, engineering specifications and complex assembly instructions are delivered directly to the techs’ sightline. Workers can also access in-context help videos and bestpractice content and even stream their point-of-view to an expert for assistance. AR-enabled remote support delivers tremendous value by enabling video collaboration between technicians in the field and subject experts in remote locations.

Such collaboration not only ensures the work is done right but is also more cost effective. Mixed reality devices like the Microsoft HoloLens are also being used to train new or temporary employees quickly.

25 / IoTnews

• Retail: Retailers are using IoT technologies like Bluetooth beacons to enhance customer engagement with personalised experiences, location-based marketing, and mobile point-of-sales (mPOS). GPSenabled sensors not only streamline ordering and inventory management but ensures customers can check if something is out of stock or on the delivery status of a purchase.

Implications in connected ‘things’ management If you think about the consumerisation of IT trends over the past five years and the impact of bring your own device (BYOD) on the enterprise and scale that up ten-fold, you begin to understand the implications of IoT on mobile device management. As the number of connected ‘things’ continue to increase, organisations must recognise the challenges associated with deploying such devices and develop strategies to address them.

organisations have begun to reject the traditional bifurcated approach to managing mobile devices and corporate PCs and demanding a single management tool and process.

A unified endpoint management (UEM) approach is essential when it comes to IoT, particularly for wearable devices which require lowtouch enrollment and configuration.

UEM also allows for scalability. Pilots may only involve a small number of devices, but as businesses grow and initiatives change, deployments must be able to easily scale to support a growing and diverse fleet.

Enterprises will spend

$255 bn on IoT by 2019

Challenges in IoT include: • Connectivity: Today’s things need to be connected using standard protocols that allow for unified endpoint management, analytics, and security. The true value of any IoT solution lies in the line-of-business and workflow applications that enable operational employees realtime access to the business-critical information needed to do their jobs.

To successfully deliver this contextsensitive information at the right time and place, it is imperative that IoT things and sensors easily integrate with existing enterprise systems (such as ERP, CRM, and work order management systems) as well as current security investments.

Typical communication models, such as device-to-cloud or deviceto-gateway communication, ensures ubiquitous connectivity throughout each endpoint in an organisation's IoT system. However, a lack of IoT protocols and standards remain a connectivity challenge for early adopters.

• Management: With the proliferation of various endpoints in the enterprise,

27% revenue increase by 2018

• Security: According to Gartner, "IoT introduces a wide range of new security risks and challenges to the IoT devices themselves, their platforms and operating systems, their communications, and even the systems to which they're connected.”

As the number of things increase and become more connected to the internet and other enterprise systems, they also become more vulnerable to security attacks.

To understand the importance of security in IoT, consider an oil and gas company with an offshore oil rig equipped with IoT-connected valves and pumps and the detrimental impact a device malfunction could

have on the company’s bottom-line and potentially its workers and the environment. Security vulnerability is a potential at every data access point which includes the thing itself as well as sensors, other devices, applications, and services.

It is imperative that organisations safeguard corporate data at every layer with device restrictions, encryption, passcodes, data loss prevention (DLP) policies, and remote lock, wipe, and troubleshooting.

Moreover, just like managing user identities is crucial to the success of mobile deployments, managing the identities and access of things is critical to the success of the IoT. Identity of Things (IDoT) means having a consistent and unique digital identity across everything, from cars to medical devices or security cameras.

Contextual identity, adaptive risk, and multi-factor authentication and authorisation between endpoints as well as users and endpoints ensure the most secure connection of digital assets across an organisation.

The solution: Unified endpoint management Considering the wide range of emerging wearables and IoT connected devices, it is critical organisations invest in a holistic management framework that can create a high-performance fully connected environment that is both manageable and secure. A unified endpoint management solution provides a comprehensive and usercentric approach to managing all endpoints from small pilots to largescale deployments.

UEM combines traditional client management of desktop and PC systems with a modern enterprise mobility management (EMM) framework to manage any endpoint – from desktop and mobile to IoT. This comprehensive approach gives IT greater visibility, simplified management, increased security, and improved operational efficiency through combined management tools and processes.

26 / IoTnews

Marketers: Prepare for an IoT consumer-facing bot invasion in 2017 Beerud Sheth, CEO of bot platform provider Gupshup, discusses the rise of the bots in 2017 and beyond and how IoT adoption can benefit – Words: Rachael Power Consumer-focused IoT has taken gigantic steps forward over the last 12 - 18 months. Two particularly interesting developments, heralding massive opportunities for brands around the world, are Amazon’s Alexa and Google Home.

The devices, which are Wi-Fienabled, voice-activated, at-home virtual assistants in the form of Bluetooth speakers that can do everything from pay your bills to tell you your flight times on request, are set to be big news in 2017.

As such, IoT News spoke to the CEO of one enterprising startup working on a solution for Google Home to find out how brands can capitalise on this trend. Explaining more about how bots can put brands at an advantage is Beerud Sheth, founder of bot platform builder Gupshup.

His team have created a set of tools for Google Home developers, Actions, which helps extend the product’s base capabilities. And while Google Home hasn’t yet announced a European launch date, the product has been receiving some very positive reviews from US consumers since its launch in November.

Gupshup, a leader in the close-knit bot community, is connected to key messaging apps as a cross-platform tool. Its Google partnership came about due to mutual beneficiality, according to Sheth.

“Google benefits from Gupshup bringing many bot builders; developers benefit because Gupshup enables them to connect their bots with a major new messaging channel, and Gupshup benefits from increased bot transactions passing through its platform,” he explains to IoT News.

Work with Google Home In its Actions platform for Google Home, developers can add ‘actions’ for shopping, music, movies and news, for example. This throws up a great opportunity for brands to get their services in front of users of the product - and right into their homes.

You might think that you can’t get closer to a consumer than being ‘in their pocket’ in the form of a smartphone.

But increasingly, people have begun to focus on work/life balance and their overall wellbeing; many health publications are repeatedly telling people to put down their mobile phone at the table and at bedtimes. Digital detoxes are becoming prevalent as people begin to resent their and their loved ones’ hours spent head-down in their phones and tablets.

This is where IoT bridges that gap - particularly devices such as voice-activated assistants.

Their aesthetically-pleasing nature means they’re an appealing at-home object..

In fact, if widely adopted and bots become more personality-driven and intelligent, they could even become a sort of extra ‘family member’.

27 / IoTnews

And it looks like with platforms such as Actions, gaining a presence for your brand will be relatively easy, at least from a usability point of view.

Enhanced customer experiences “With the Gupshup integration, Actions can be built quickly and easily. A quick version can even be built in minutes, though a full version can take more time. For example, the VentureBeat Action reads out the latest news headlines and stories with options for reading the next and previous headline. Future versions will include more functionality,” Sheth says, adding that the customer experience voice-activated bots can provide is a more organic-feeling one.

“IoT and bots can offer much richer experiences. They will converse in natural language and will be intelligent, as well as knowing the user context.

Over time, they will get personalised to the user. All of these combined will deliver delightful user experiences.”

And according to Sheth, bots will serve to drive the growth of IoT devices by making them more user-friendly.

“IoT devices will come pre-loaded with conversational bots - that will make IoT interactions very easy and natural. Brands will now be able to deliver marketing messages through more devices and with greater contextual knowledge,” he explains.

However, while mainstream media is awash with stories praising chatbots, it’s also not a case of voice versus textbased bots. Both interfaces are in fact set to grow, Sheth continues.

Developers can add ‘actions’ for shopping, music, movies and news, for example. This throws up a great opportunity for brands to get their services in front of users of the product - and right into their homes

“Voice may be preferred when driving or in the home, but text may be better at work or in public places. Voice may be fine for simple interactions, but text can offer richer menus and interactions.

Voice is fine for brief transactions, but text is better for displaying structured information or documents,” he outlines.

Bots will help with IoT adoption Of course, as marketers well know, each time a new product or form of technology comes onto the market for consumers, it can take time to become

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widely adopted. New IoT devices and interfaces will however will be helped along by the proliferation of bots, Gupshup believes.

“Bots provide a mechanism to embed intelligence into the whole IoT experience. Bots will translate human needs and preferences into IoT commands providing an invaluable bridge between humans and IoT devices,” Sheth explains, adding that this signals good news for brands wanting to ride the ‘big data’ wave.

“The real value-add will be in the intelligent software layer, not in the underlying hardware. The better refrigerator will be the one that automatically orders all the food you need while minimising wastage. The better air conditioner will be the one that intelligently regulates temperature based on your daily usage patterns.

So, brands and marketers will have to develop a software mindset in place of the traditional hardware mindset.”

While brand ‘experiences’ are of course one of the most effective forms of marketing, there will also be a place for the more traditional field

Imagine a smart refrigerator that recommends milk and eggs, or a toaster that recommends bread, or a trash can that recommends trash bags of advertising in IoT via bots - but not in the way we’re all used to. As we’re seeing with the ongoing adblocker epidemic, any advertisement will need to veer away from being too selfpromotional or invasive.

“Imagine a smart refrigerator that recommends milk and eggs, or a

toaster that recommends bread, or a trash can that recommends trash bags. Each of these can be a marketer's dream, if executed correctly. Of course, if the recommendations are spammy or lack credibility, it will backfire on the brand,” Sheth warns.

Rise of the bots If marketers are to take anything away for 2017, it’s that IoT-related bots aren’t just rising - they’re maturing.

There’s an invasion coming to not just homes of consumers, but the marketing industry too - and brands would do well to be prepared.

"The pace of innovation is all set to increase, given that every major tech company has committed substantial investment to this space and many new startups are addressing it too,” Sheth says.

“The bot invasion will begin in earnest in 2017. We will be surrounded by bots everywhere we go.”

Amazon 'Alexa'

Google 'Home'

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Why CDPs are essential to the world of IoT

By George Corugedo,, CTO, RedPoint Global

2017 is going to be a golden year. We know this, especially with the rise of the Internet of Things.

requires a solution that can integrate a variety of data points into a single source of truth for engagement.

Marketers are finally realising the importance of a Customer Data Platform (CDP) in their marketing stack to achieve a “golden record” – or a unified customer profile. The proof is in the numbers and you’ll see its strong following with the recent launch of the Customer Data Platform Institute

by David Raab Associates. A CDP is a marketer-managed system that creates a persistent, unified customer database that is accessible to other systems.

This solution, for many organisations, is the CDP, which integrates customer data across channels and allows for enhanced visibility into every single interaction with customers—both known and unknown.

It’s a technology more and more marketers are asking about – and for good reason. Why? Let’s start with the basis for every B2C campaign – consumers.

Consumers interact with organisations through so many channels – smartphones, tablets, televisions, laptops, smartwatches, and, with the fast-growing Internet of Things ecosystem, even home appliances. This proliferation complicates campaigns to reach consumers and, to be successful,

What makes 2017 a golden year is the fact that CDPs are being utilised for IoT – it is going to be a game changer for organisations across several verticals that sell to consumers

CDPs can also store personally identifiable information (PII) and can be used to craft hyper-personalised customer experiences across those

same channels. The current rise in IoT devices further complicates crosschannel campaigns, shedding the real need of the CDP – to act as a bridge to reach customers, which is often a oneshot opportunity. In these instances, it’s up to organisations to engage on the right channel with the right offer at the right time to attract, retain, and increase loyalty and revenue.

However, CDPs are, unfortunately, still not that well known in the broader marketplace, despite their power in making campaigns vastly more effective. Organisations such as the Customer Data Platform Institute are designed to offer vendor-neutral education about CDPs and drive broader awareness of the solution class to marketers, customer engagement professionals, and organisations who are concerned about reaching their customers, no matter the situation.

What makes 2017 a golden year is the fact that CDPs are being utilised for IoT – it is going to be a game changer for organisations across several verticals that sell to consumers.

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CDPs take on new importance as the IoT revolution reaches more corners of everyday life. There are now smart coffee makers, smart refrigerators, smartwatches, smart thermostats; the list gets longer and longer every day. (That doesn’t even take into consideration the state of affairs once devices begin to interact with each other.)

Because customers interact with organisations through each of these channels, marketers need a way to determine the next-best action across all of these touchpoints to limit repeats and drive personalised engagements.

CDPs can help organisations reach their customers and provide them with information they never would have thought imaginable. Think of the opportunities.

For example, your coffee maker can tell you when it’s time to get more beans before you run out of the last stash, or your refrigerator can tell you when it’s time to get a new jug of milk because there’s only a cup and a half left, or when your watch tells you it’s time to get up and move since you’ve been sitting for too long and you need to meet your fitness goals for the month. The list goes on and on.

For example, a CDP can integrate data from smart devices throughout the home and serve up that data for internal analysis. This can give marketers the opportunity to determine which offer to provide next to the consumer using their smart device: provide a coupon for coffee pods, offer to deliver a gallon of milk, or send out a reminder for an annual physical.

This is every marketer’s dream – the possibilities are endless, but only if you can access the right data to make that decision. CDPs enable a golden record, which gives organisations the opportunity to make the right offer to the right person at the right time and craft powerful experiences that drive long-term consumer loyalty.

A marketer can only dream, right?

With CDPs it can become reality.

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How can the IoT improve the customer experience?

By Daniel Heck, Senior Director of Marketing, EMEA, SugarCRM 2016 can be seen as the year that the IoT moved from a discussion point mainly revolving around connected fridges and other fanciful but abstract ideas, to a concept that has the potential to fundamentally transform the way businesses and consumers connect with one another. The tech world really sat up and took notice when Samsung revealed in June it will be investing $1.2 billion into US-based IoT. And the huge numbers continued to impress: Gartner predicts that 25 billion objects will be connected to the IoT by 2020, and Global Institute has calculated that the IoT market will

cash in more than $10 trillion in the next 10 years.

The possibility of businesses aggregating customer data from every electronic device with which they connect heralds a future of seemingly infinite possibilities. What is especially exciting about the IoT is its potential to transform every industry imaginable, from automotive and appliances to fashion and beyond. The raison d'etre of customer-facing businesses is to use any intelligence at their disposal to gain a ‘fly on the wall’ perspective of their consumers’ lives, enabling them

The raison d'etre of customer-facing businesses is to use any intelligence at their disposal to gain a ‘fly on the wall’ perspective of their consumers’ lives

33 / IoTnews

to offer the most personalised products and services possible.

So, the thought of businesses moving beyond a reliance on customer information from the traditional interaction points of phone, email and in-person, towards having the ability to really understand their daily routine and ultimately inspire their behaviour has, unsurprisingly, left marketing teams rubbing their hands together with barely suppressed glee.

It’s clear that where the IoT has gained the most traction with consumers is in the day-to-day running of households.

An example is British Gas’ Hive, with over 300,000 UK households now controlling their home heating through their mobile devices. I believe where the IoT will have the most success is where it can bring tangible value to consumers’ lives, whether through saving money on heating bills or remembering where you parked your car by tapping on an app.

The first question any organisation should ask themselves when investing in IoT technology is: how will this benefit my customer’s experience with us? Will it encourage them to be loyal and recommend us to family and friends? The mass of data risks being of little value if businesses lack the technical ability to safely store and make sense of what it tells them about their consumers and ultimately how to predict and inspire their behaviour.

This is the challenge for businesses in 2017 and beyond: how can the IoT be deployed to enhance a business’s understanding of its customers?

A new channel also means another level of customer expectation: they want to know that every touchpoint they have with a company is unified.

CRM solutions are of course an obvious, if not entirely comprehensive, part of this sense-making process and that can be very powerful when deployed in support of an IoT network. Businesses must learn how to incorporate this new channel of extremely valuable, robust data into an already complex web of customer interactions coming from Facebook, Twitter and beyond.

Of course, security concerns are still paramount. I think a big reason why consumer demand for the IoT has been fairly slow is because they are (understandably) wary of opening up their lives to devices that harvest their personal data. Cybercrime is never out of the news, with hacking scandals now a commonplace occurrence in our connected world. It is essential therefore that organisations have a robust and secure infrastructure in place which minimises the potential of sensitive customer data getting in the wrong hands.

Businesses must learn how to incorporate this new channel of extremely valuable, robust data into an already complex web of customer interactions

The growth of the IoT will inevitably lead to the creation of new IT departments set up to control and monitor the vast data interactions and ensure regulatory compliance. Indeed, Volkswagen recently announced plans to create a new cyber security company devoted to protecting next-generation connected cars.

In this age of IoT, the question businesses should therefore ask themselves is not “are we ready?” but “are our tools ready?” The right customer data management solution can go a long way to answering this and enable businesses to exploit the fabulous potential of IoT as more than just a means of running a bath on the homebound commute but as an architecture to enable nothing short of a revolution in customer service.

Today’s world is frenetic and always connected, so anything the IoT can do to bring convenience, value and positive change to consumers’ lives will be increasingly welcomed.

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How IoT's personalisation features may change the face of retail

By Rick Delgado

Although the Internet of Things may sound like a fancy term for something in the tech industry, it’s actually the easiest way to describe the future of all industries. The IoT is quickly becoming a reality for how businesses actually do business and interact with their customers, and it’s going to have some pretty big effects, even in the retail industry.

chance to analyse what advertising and marketing works best for which customer pools. It also allows them to give customers a far more personal and “just-for-you” experience as they shop. Big data can collect age, location, favourites, browsing history and other online habits to give you a shopping experience that feels as if you have your own personal stylist.

The first applications for the IoT have included automated processes and inventory cataloguing. As more and more applications and software are created with the IoT as a foundation, companies that haven’t already begun to join the bandwagon will find themselves far behind the competition. The biggest reason why the IoT has become adopted by retail companies is due to its ability to provide a highly personalised and optimised shopping experience for everyone.

Next to big data collection, other software such as people counting and iBeacons are sharing more information with the help of the IoT to show businesses traffic patterns within stores and even the physical response of customers to advertising or deals through facial recognition software.

This alone might be the main area of change in the retail industry. Through the collection and analysis of big data, companies now have the ability to collect, retain and comb through vast amounts of demographic histories, personal preferences and shopping habits. This gives companies the

Along with this, the retail industry will see more of a convergence between brick and mortar stores and online stores. Because of its ability to share information in real-time, the IoT is taking the department of storage and inventory to greater heights. Programs and software such as RFID tags and EPCIS are making online information more accurate and complete.

RFID tags alone have bettered inventory visibility by ten-fold

helping businesses to better satisfy consumer demand and even automate replenishment for consistency within stores and online. In tandem, EPCIS has already been adopted in retail and healthcare to show the what, when, where and why of data captured—the exact context. It also gives businesses a trail of “digital breadcrumbs” to help retailers be quicker and more accurate.

Payments processing is also going to be affected by the IoT. Online shopping itself has cut out the waitin-line aspect of shopping, but it still comes with the downside of being unable to try on the clothes. With payments processing becoming faster and even “fun” (think Amazon’s tech that requires you to just take a selfie to pay) brick and mortar stores may be seeing customers coming back in again.

Of course, these are just the tip of the iceberg of what the IoT can do to change the retail industry. But to wait for the big guns to be revealed or created could mean setting yourself back, which means that if you’re in retail, you definitely want to and need to be implementing all that the IoT already has to offer.

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How IoT will change shopping as we know it

By Christian Lane, CEO of Smarter

From the clamour for attention around Valentine’s Day and Black Friday, to the back to school rush and Boxing Day sales, we are becoming increasingly inundated with retail events offering unmissable deals.

These periods inevitably result in a stressful time for retailers who are trying to meet enormous demand while managing their stock levels. Recently, even the biggest brands have struggled to keep up with the scale of these occasions, but soon much of this strain will be alleviated by the integration of Internet of Things technologies.

The modern online consumer, or a ‘smarter’ shopper, is a lot more switched on and harder to convince when it comes to retailers clambering over each other to promote their best bargains. Therefore, perhaps the most important weapon in the online vendor’s arsenal is the ability to get a precise, well-rounded snapshot of exactly who their consumers are.

The ability to collect and store customer data such as age, gender, interests, purchasing history and how these relate to a specific time of year, is crucial knowledge when creating

Perhaps the most important weapon in the online vendor’s arsenal is the ability to get a precise, wellrounded snapshot of exactly who their consumers are

37 / IoTnews

competitive deals and planning for retail landmarks.

Many of the IoT devices that are appearing in people’s homes can help in the collection of this data. From smart TVs to an Amazon Echo, these products can provide a whole host of information about the owner in terms of their preferences and tastes, which in turn can help retailers to personalise and tailor deals to a particular demographic.

The shopping experience is growing ever more personal powered by technology. For example, online retailer Not on the High Street has this introduced an "Elf Help" bot, powered

by AI, to make gift selection quicker and easier for the consumer.

At Smarter, for example, we have taken this technology and created a FridgeCam which allows the homeowner to see what is inside their fridge via an app, regardless of where they are, and receive notifications when an item is about to expire. Another key part of this design is that it will be connected to local supermarkets, allowing the user to find the nearest store that stocks the item, streamlining the food shopping experience and ultimately cutting down food waste.

Innovative location-based marketing via your mobile is another tool which is being widely implemented by retailers.

During the 2016 Christmas period, London’s Covent Garden transformed into the world’s first augmented reality retail district in partnership with Blippar, the visual discovery app.

Shoppers could discover the perfect gift through the bespoke interactive AR beauty and fashion gift guides unique to the shopping district, while retailers can use Blippar’s technology to augment shopper’s experience and simultaneously allow retailers to engage in store with the customer.

For stores, the data provided through IoT can also benefit them in the stock rooms. Not only can it tell the company where certain goods are in their store through in-store trackers and shelf scanners, it can improve the timeframe for delivery and help address issues in the case of loss. If goods were to

be damaged en route, for example, the damage can be recorded with an exact time and location, providing a digital trail for customer and company to review.

The automation which comes hand-in-hand with IoT will also help perfect planning around expected and unexpected retail events, which lead to a surge in demand for key products.

During Cyber Monday in 2015, websites were unable to deal with the surge in online activity and in the US, many of the 55 top retail websites went down during the day, costing companies hundreds of thousands of dollars in missed sales opportunities.

We’re beginning to see more and more retailers embrace IoT technologies, and we can expect to see a noticeable shift towards this trend next year

To address this issue, an IoT-enabled supply chain system can monitor levels through shelf sensors in stores that will be linked to the warehouse system, allowing it to automatically reorder products when the inventories are low, reducing waste and improving efficiency within the store.

While we’re beginning to see more and more retailers embrace IoT technologies, we can expect to see a noticeable shift towards this trend next year. With new technological innovations and product updates set to wow us throughout 2017, coupled with a continuous increase in eCommerce sales (predicted to reach £89.73bn next year), retailers will be able to streamline their processes behind the scenes whilst also improving their customer-facing services.

Soon, IoT in retail will not be an exception, but rather become the rule.

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Q&A - James Monighan, CEO and founder, Monighan Associates James Monighan, formerly European managing director of SmartThings, now combines working for IoT firms, mentoring startups, and other consultancy as CEO and founder of Monighan Associates. Here, he gives his thoughts on founding his own business, IoT security worries and whether regulation is the answer, and the most exciting players in the space.

James Monighan, Monighan Associates

IoT News: Hi James. So what does Monighan Associates entail?

JM: The original premise was IoT related, because that’s where I’ve spent the latter part of my career, and while that’s partially true, I’ve also been working with a client on just a piece of tech, and the question was how to take that to market [and] how to build a product around it. It’s kind of fun because it’s something I’ve done before – but not latterly – and it wasn’t IoT.

Plenty of headlines in the tech media are focusing on the negatives of IoT right now – particularly around security. Is all as bad as you read in the press?

Are there concerns? Yes, but no more so than much more mature,

established industries, so I think it’s just about perspective.

and businesses being better educated, or a bit of both?

From a provider and manufacturer side, it’s down to putting in the appropriate preventative and detection measures, and conversely from the consumer side being aware of which products and services you pick and which brands you feel have your confidence and credibility in that space. Therefore, the job I think of providers is to help customers navigate through that and to curate the best experiences they can.

I’m not saying the industry should be absolved by any means, but I don’t think you can put all the emphasis on the industry either. If I go onto Amazon and buy a security camera from a manufacturer I’ve never heard of, that’s a conscious risk I’ve made. I’ve made a trade-off on my view of that product and company versus price, and price has been my predominant consideration, and therefore that’s my risk profile.

Is regulation the answer to security worries?

We’ve proven, sadly, that everyone can screw up – even take Samsung and their phones. A company like that can mess up, the important piece then comes with making sure it doesn’t happen again, but also, what is the recovery plan for the customer? That’s truly what defines the moment.

The devil’s in the detail. If somebody ships a camera, or somebody purchases a camera that’s not secure and sticks it on the network, that compromises the whole network. There is the common sense test. People will say we’ve got to have a law, some regulatory framework; frameworks are fine, but commercial common sense and understanding is the way it should be anyway.

I guess proportionality is my view – the risk we use a sledgehammer to crack a nut. I’m not saying it’s not a significant nut, but there’s got to be proportionality in what is put in place.

Should it be manufacturers being more vigilant, customers

What do you expect 2017 to revolve around?

People talk about standards of course – fundamentally it will become more standardised as it matures out, and the bottom line means that customers shouldn’t care. I think, inevitably if you look at the industrial IoT market there’s been a maturity and a consolidation; and I think the same will happen in the consumer space.

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