A Connected Future – A Dose Of Reality?

We broke the Internet.  This was amongst the many headlines resulting from the recent disagreement between anti-spam service Spamhaus and Internet Service Provider (ISP) Cyberbunker.  Whilst the claims did appear to be a little far-fetched, more than a few people became a little worried about not being able to stream the latest movies.

Our dependency on connected devices is growing, something that nearly all respondents in a recent survey believe will happen within the next five years, making their lives easier.  From internet enabled refrigerators ordering groceries, to smartphones controlling lights, the connected home has many potential customers.  In comparison to younger respondents looking for the connected home making their lives easier, the older generation (45-54 year olds, and 55+) are looking to use the connected home in order to become more energy efficient.

However, there appears to be no consideration regarding the potential risks that internet connected devices could represent.  The main concern from respondents (38%) was the cost of initial purchase, with only 1 in 10 18-24 year olds concerned about the potential security risks.  In fact, almost 40% of the younger respondents said they were not worried at all about how secure internet connected devices are, and almost 74% said they pay little or no attention to warnings about cyber crime.

These statistics paint a worrying picture, and the implications of not protecting these devices could result in the loss of privacy for consumers, to having these devices taken offline.  Much like the PC or laptop, the connected home is here to stay; and whilst we consumers are looking forward to it so is the cybercriminal.

Twitter@Raj_Samani

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