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Internet of Things (IoT) and Security: FTC Prescribes Best Practices for Data Management
The FTC recently released a report that recommends the following six best practices for managing Internet of Things data, recommendations that can really be applied to any type of data collection:
- Security by Design. Security should be an integral part of software and system design for handling data.
- Personnel Policies. Employees of businesses that have access to data should receive data security and handling training.
- Service Providers. Businesses should do due diligence to ensure that the service providers they engage with employ good levels of security.
- Defense-in-Depth. Businesses should consider adopting multiple layers of security defense.
- Access Controls. Data should be tagged with access controls that limit people from seeing only the data that they have a need to access.
- Monitoring. Businesses need to continually assess and amend their security policies. They need to stay current with software releases, updates and patches.
Earl Perkins, an analyst at Gartner, said that “they’re [the FTC] giving fair warning to those responsible for consumer services that how you use the data is something they’re going to be watching carefully.”
On the face of it, these recommendations seem like common sense. Yet not everyone is happy with the report.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Berin Szoka, president of the think tank TechFreedom, said that “the FTC is trying to regulate the Internet of Things by stealth.”
In particular, one contentious item is the recommendation that consumer information collection should be minimized where possible and that time limits should be put on how long consumer data can be retained by businesses.
Daniel Castro, Director of the Center for Data Innovation, said that “in calling for companies to reduce their use of data, the FTC misses the point that data is the driving force behind innovation in today’s information economy… I think they just don’t fully understand the benefits. The whole point of [IoT] companies is they’re trying to collect data. That’s the model of innovation right now. And to just say ‘don’t have it’ ignores the reality of the technology today, it’s in every industry.””
