FIVE THINGS TO CHANGE TO MAKE YOUR SMART DEVICES REALLY SECURE

While big tech companies wants us to cram as many smart gadgets as possible into our homes, offices and cars, users will need to be wary of these cheaply priced products.

In many cases the data those sensors gather during the course of the day is stored, analysed and repackaged. It's sliced and diced and re-used by companies who want to understand us and what we do. That second revenue stream is why so many of these things are cheap in the first place.

Recently, the UK government made a first attempt at coming up with a set of rules for IoT security that gadget makers must stick to if they want to sell their devices in the country.

All consumer internet-connected device passwords must be unique and cannot be reset to any universal factory setting

Makers of consumer IoT devices must provide a public point of contact so anyone can report a vulnerability and agree it will be acted on in a timely manner

Consumer IoT devices makers must state the minimum length of time that the device will receive security updates at the point of sale, either in store or online

However, here are five things that can be done to make IoT devices more secure.

Every IoT device should come with a clear explanation of how any data created is transmitted, how and where it is stored and for how long.

Every IoT device should make clear whether that data it creates is encrypted (and how) and who has access to the data and the keys

IoT device makers should keep a list of what of the data collected they are analysing or monetising or reselling, even if anonymised, and a list of who they sold it to.

Users of IoT devices should be able to see what data is being held and have the right to have it permanently deleted.

All IoT devices should be capable of being automatically upgraded if bug fixes become necessary

While no tech company will agree to this level of data about their business being made public, they expect us to allow them to eavesdrop and watch our every intimate moment. So, the faustian bargain about privacy and security will continue.