IoT is increasingly getting safer

Technology is constantly evolving and offering new applications to users. There are always risks when innovating and putting these inventions into practice is more likely when the risks are unknown or have not been taken into account. In this sense, the norms, standards and regulations are intended to make those risks public, inform how they can be treated and encourage and / or force designers, producers or engineers to put in practice the means that can mitigate such risks to take the appropriate actions. For these standards to be effective it is vital that they adapt to the new times, and this is precisely what is happening with those that apply to the Internet of Things, since recently two very relevant ones have been published: the first international standard ISO / IEC for Internet of Things and a technical specification of ETSI for IoT devices and services for the general public.

The new regulation is ISO / IEC 30141 and it establishes a common vocabulary for the design of IoT products, which allows the development of reliable, safe, protected, privacy-friendly systems capable of facing cyber-attacks. It joins the more than 600 international standards that are in waiting to be reviewed and officiated to regulate the industry 4.0, with the aim of reducing the invasive nature of new technologies.

Regarding the technical specification of ETSI (ETSI TS 103 645), it is a standard that establishes a series of security requirements for IoT products targeted for the general public, with the intention of establishing a basis on which future certification will be defined. Some of the most relevant requirements included in this specification are the prohibition of default passwords for all devices (e.g. admin / admin) or the requirement that there is has to be an official channel through which users can report vulnerabilities to manufacturers.

The main players in the technology industry are fully aware of the importance of taking care of safety

The main players in the technology industry are fully aware of the importance of taking care of safety. This year, the RSA Conference 2019 is held in San Francisco, a world trade fair and companies specialized in technology from all over the world attend this event every year, in order to show the advances and innovations that they have to contribute to the cybersecurity market. In addition to the stands of the companies, practical sessions, keynotes and informal meetings are held where the most current topics in the world of security and technology are discussed.

Telefónica will be attending for the fourth year in a row to show off to the technological community a wide variety of its most relevant and innovative products, most of which incorporate IoT technology, including CapaciCard, Stela FileTrack and Dinoflux.

The CapaciCard software is a plastic card that allows you to make payments and purchases online much more safely. Its function is the authentication, identification or authorization of users, avoiding that, in case of loss, third parties can make payments without authorization. With only one card it will be possible to authenticate yourself in different providers, in addition, in order to increase security, you can match up the card with your most commonly used devices. The technology behind this invention is the multitouch screens available to almost all mobile phones and laptops and where without additional hardware, bluetooth, NFC or any type of connection can the card can be verified.

Many companies have problems with the management and administration of thousands of documents stored on their computers. Stela FileTrack is the perfect solution for tracking those documents and classifying those that contain sensitive, confidential or personal information. Through a traceability layer, FileTrack shows online the life cycle of the most sensitive documents owned by a company.

The implementation of standards and the development of new cybersecurity technologies allow us to feel more secure

There will also be a demo on the function of “honeypot” IoT. This system consists of a series of IoT devices (such as routers, IP cameras, sensors of various types …) connected to the Internet that when receiving attacks from cybercriminals the automatic systems created by them will collect information about their techniques and procedures, and thus be able to generate cyber intelligence that can detect the actions that are taken on systems in production.

The increase in the use of technology, especially IoT, increases the amount of services available to users. The implementation of standards and measures such as those mentioned above or the development of new cybersecurity technologies allow us to feel more secure when integrating these devices in our home or workplace.