Some of us have greeted The Internet of Things (IoT) with an open door and a warm embrace. For others of us, we are cautiously peering through the door’s peephole, and considering whether we should pretend to not be at home. What this very well-informed panel, enjoyably moderated by industry guru, Mr. Charles Brookson, Director of Azenby in the United Kingdom, agreed, is that IoT will know whether we are home, or not. However, what is done with that information, will be the key to IoT’s mass-market appeal.
The IoT is here now; and it is here to stay
Mr. Brookson began the session by saying that: “there are many different definitions of IoT. We’re here to not only try to define it, but also to discuss what’s good about it, and what the potential pitfalls are.”
The session began with the panel’s thoughts on IoT, and then, unsurprisingly and naturally, migrated to issues around security and privacy.
Mr. George Galica, Head of Managed Services at Vodafone Qatar, set the session’s tone by saying: “IoT is here, and probably has been since the advent of GSM, and it’s going to be the next big thing. Thus far, however, it has been under the radar. I believe that it is a force for good and can allow an energy supplier, for instance, to install smart meters on cell sites to monitor consumption; and then change consumption behavior in a manner that still satisfies consumers, yet reduces carbon emissions by a measurable percentage. This is just one component of a successful Smart City.”
Dr. Angelika Plate, Director of Strategic Security Consulting, Help AG in the UAE, said: I agree that IoT has been here for a long time; and a lot of the global population doesn’t even know that it has been using it.” She continued, “In my opinion, whether IoT is ‘good’ or ‘evil,’ has yet to be determined. It will truly depend on how it is used and the device support – especially security. The challenge we face is that: by 2020, there will be 50 billion devices in the world. When they all start to communicate, it could lead to serious security and privacy issues.”
“Yes, IoT is definitely already here,” agreed Mr. Barry Greene, Chief of Strategy at Niometrics in Singapore. If you’re a Telco, you must get into M2M because there’s too much money in it not to.” “But,” he cautioned. “You must find a way to mitigate the risk.” Mr. Greene felt that Cybersecurity and Cybercrime are going to be big issues, where IoT is concerned, but he didn’t think that global regulation on data privacy would be gained because “there are too many differences between countries Regulatory policies, so Telcos will have work with local guidelines and policies.
Mr. David Rogers, CEO of Copper Horse Solutions in the United Kingdom, “would like to think that IoT is a force for good.” “However,” he added. “Having studied hacking for a long time, I can see that we are opening Pandora’s Box. Every day, there is another media story about a pretty catastrophic security breach. There are a lot of people, who are trying to deliver IoT, but they are not yet knowledgeable enough, trained enough, or experienced enough. The industry and the technology are playing catch up.”
Privacy and Paranoia
The discussion and Q&A session naturally turned to security.
Some of the panel’s thoughts on this area were:
The fact that people crave privacy, and that some even have a right to it. However, the dilemma is when a crime occurs, the criminals are often protected by data protection. Is that correct
The theory that there needs to be some clear, global standardization on how data is used, but that the debate around privacy will never be won
The quandary that sometimes, we have to give up privacy to improve our lives (such as the app, Life360) or want something discounted or free (such as coupons / vouchers)
The actuality that providers are counting on the fact that consumers will automatically say ‘yes’ to an extraordinary amount of Ts & Cs, without reading them; and that perhaps the latter could have the option to say ‘no’, but still have access to the product The concept of being able to switch off certain parts of IoT, on demand, so as to have more privacy
The idea that, whether you are a business or a consumer, once you are hacked, your paranoia understandably increases, and that there needs to be a balance between paranoia and competency – especially for businesses
The issue around timeliness of regulations lagging behind the Innovation, which is already quick, and will only become faster A request for some of next year’s Telecom World panelists to be under-25, since IoT will affect them the most – both on the creating and the consuming side; but that we must also include late-adopting Baby Boomers into Innovation conversations, as they bring a very different perspective
The conclusion of the session was that IoT is ‘good,’ but we absolutely must get it right on how it is used, or it will rapidly become quite ‘evil.’
Moderator
Mr. Charles Brookson, Director, Azenby, United Kingdom
Panelists
Mr. George Galica, Head of Managed Services, Vodafone Qatar Q.S.C., Qatar
Mr. Barry Raveendran Greene, Chief of Strategy, Niometrics, Singapore
Dr. Angelika Plate, Director of Strategic Security Consulting, Help AG, United Arab Emirates
Mr. David Rogers, Chief Executive Officer, Copper Horse Solutions Ltd, United Kingdom
