Demand for connected Internet of Things (IoT) products is expected to exceed $10 billion or more by 2024, while the global smart home market is expected to be valued at $138 billion by 2023. However, with more connected devices coming into the market, the demand for reliable and secure connected consumer tech products directly correlates with the market growth.
Government and industry organizations, having identified the need for improvements in connected products security, are stepping in with new measures. Most notable are the new California (Senate Bill 327) and Oregon (House Bill 2395) state laws effective as of Jan. 1, 2020 that hold U.S. manufacturers responsible for adding “reasonable security features” in devices or physical objects that are able to connect to the internet directly or indirectly.
To help with this, UL, the global safety science company, is now offering an IoT Security Rating to help manufacturers demonstrate cybersecurity posture in preparation for upcoming regulations. According to Laurens van Oijen, IoT security solution leader at UL, in a message sent to Digital Journal, the new safety baseline will appeal to for manufacturers and retailers in the cybersecurity industry.
Until recently, brands, manufacturers and retailers didn’t have clear baseline security frameworks to work from and no clear way to communicate to consumers the value of their cybersecurity efforts.
By collaborating with key industry and governmental stakeholders, UL is the first organization to offer conformity assessment for all key security frameworks and a consumer labeling system to convey the level of security protection provided to connected products.
UL’s new IoT Security Rating solution is designed to evaluate critical security features of connected products against common attack practices and known IoT vulnerabilities, to help make product security transparent and accessible to consumers through UL’s Verified Mark.
