The Internet of Things (IoT) is expected to be a $267 billion market by 2020. A lot of this investment should happen in industries like manufacturing, transport, logistics, healthcare, and utilities while the consumer market alone is estimated to be worth around $25 billion over the next few years.
An internet connected manufacturing or transportation device is expected to be more dynamic and efficient. One might remember Tesla first tweaking the suspension system of their Model S cars by simply pushing in a wireless update in late 2013. At the other end of the spectrum, a farmer could deploy devices that monitor ambient humidity and temperature that can dynamically control the flow of water over irrigation channels. While technology as this can bring about tremendous improvements in productivity and efficiency, it is also important to look into the hazards and shortcomings that such deployments may bring.
Hacking
Disabling thousands of computers with a ransomware or halting online commerce through DDoS-type attacks are commonplace today. Although such cyber-attacks are known to cause losses worth millions of dollars, they are still benign in the sense that no lives are lost. That might not be the case when IoT becomes mainstream. Could a car be hacked to run over people? Could an IoT device that monitors the level of toxic fumes at a manufacturing locality be remotely disabled causing these poisonous gases to be released into the air? These are real threats that come with internet-enabled things which could mean a future terror attack could be caused by people remotely from another part of the world.
Disconnection
A number of consumer appliances are today connected to the internet. While hacking is a persistent problem on these devices, another threat is disconnection. Electronic doors, for instance, are today connected to the internet to allow homeowners to be notified anytime a door is accessed. However, such devices could become inaccessible during emergencies like fire. Similarly, IoT-based security cameras that stream live video to the homeowners’ mobile phone and directly connect to security agencies during a B&E could get stolen or manually disconnected that render the device unusable. Non-IoT alternatives such as SimpliSafe that connect with cellular networks instead of over the internet are becoming more preferred for this reason.
Privacy
Google is credited with making cloud-based email popular with their launch of Gmail back in 2004. However, the company faced a severe backlash in the early days of Gmail because of privacy concerns from people who believed that Google could read into their users’ private email data to serve them contextual ads. While such privacy concerns have largely been dismissed today, the mainstream adoption of IoT could trigger a new wave of backlash against potential privacy breaches. An average IoT device is expected to handle millions of data points each year which is then transferred to the cloud owned by the manufacturer. This opens up very confidential consumer details to the manufacturer who may exploit this for profit. Even with stringent data-handling guidelines, it is still possible for such data to fall into the wrong hands and this could lead to a much larger impact for consumers than what was brought about by Gmail.
Internet of Things is here for us whether or not we like it. However, acknowledging the nefarious possibilities makes it possible for consumers to cover their bases as their consumption of IoT devices grow.
