US Senators: We need to know about the Internet of Things
A bipartisan group of US senators has asked the Government Accountability Office to provide a report on the Internet of Things - looking into the current state of IoT tech, IoT use in the US governemnt, and any federal law changes that may be needed to enable the IoT. The letter also raises an interesting point about the wireless spectrum and whether the current spectrum opportunities have sufficient capacity to cope with IoT applications.&nbsp;
As US lawmakers call on the Government Accountability Office to assess the world of the Internet of Things, Eugene Kaspersky has unloaded on the thingification of home appliances.

A bipartisan group of US Senators (Brian Schatz and Cory Booker for the Democrats, Deb Fischer and Kelly Ayotte for the Republicans) released the letter to Comptroller General Gene Dodaro to launch the probe.

Among other things, They ask the GAO to look at the current state of IoT technology, whether the US government has experience using IoT technology, what agencies have IoT plans or strategies, and any federal law changes that might be needed to enable the IoT.

Security and privacy are also on their list, along with spectrum requirements, and what's going on in the rest of the world.

Kaspersky's input into the debate is at least characteristically wide-ranging and blunt. He told NBC the “Internet of Things” should be called the “Internet of threats”.

As well as the possibility for spying on viewers, Eugene sees Smart TVs as a handy candidate for a Cryptolocker-style attack of the future: “Hijack the TV, display a message, (so you have to) pay to unlock it”, he said.

Refrigerators and cars are easy targets, and he's also interested in the smart watch as a source of citizen health data that could be obtained and misused by criminals.

Since even anti-virus can be compromised, watches will probably be easy. ®