by Angela Guess
According to a new press release, “From the appliances and thermostats in our homes to apps and wearables that track our health and fitness to the vehicles we drive and the streetlights and traffic signals that guide us on the road, smart technologies are becoming increasingly interconnected with our everyday lives. A new ESET/National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) study on the Internet of Things (IoT) – the connectivity of a wide variety of ‘things’ to the internet – reveals that 56 percent of consumers own up to three devices – not counting their computers and smartphones – that connect to their home routers, with 22 percent having between four and 10 additional connected devices and three percent owning more than 10.”
The release goes on, “Despite the growing number of connected devices in the home, however, 43 percent of respondents reported either not having changed their default router passwords or not being sure whether they had done so. In Week 4 of National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM), NCSA, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and their partners in industry, government and the nonprofit sector are collaborating to educate the general public about the risks associated with smart devices and how everyone can better protect themselves and their information online.”
Michael Kaiser, executive director of NCSA, commented, “The Internet of Things presents tremendous opportunities for managing our health, homes and businesses, but we need to have our eyes wide open about the risks as well… IoT technology is driven by personal information – it’s really an ‘Internet of Me’ – so it’s important to be proactive about understanding what information your devices collect about you, how that information is used, where it’s being stored and what kind of control you have over it. Additionally, it’s especially important to pay attention to the security of your mobile device if you are using it to control IoT devices – as well as your router, if you’re connecting devices to it.”
Read more at PR Newswire.
Photo credit: NCSA