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Internet of Things users need to become sysadmins, America's Federal Bureau of Investigation says.
That's a summary of the Feds' blog post, published this week, in which the agency's Beth Anne Steele wrote that Things are best deployed on their own network, with an off-switch.
Steele's post offered a checklist explaining how consumers can best secure their stuff, including a suggestion to: "Isolate 'IoT' devices on their own protected networks" – which means you'll want a firewall between your broadband modem and the switch that connects the devices.
The checklist might reach beyond the capabilities of the average IoT buyer, who just wants to swipe the phone app to control their lights (because the wall is so far away), but on its own, that's a point worth making. So here's the full list, with El Reg commentary.
"Change default usernames and passwords?" Brain shutting down. Too. Much. Techno-babble.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by julian on Friday December 15 2017, @04:56AM (10 children)
Make someone financially liable and watch how quickly they can become an expert. Normies have no problem becoming experts in car insurance or sales tax, because it affects them. If companies were financially liable for their massive cock-ups from lax or non-existent security practices, they'll quickly devise solutions which will survive implementation by Joe Sixpack serving as sysadmin.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 15 2017, @06:00AM (8 children)
Car insurance? I doubt the average person knows much about it. A sales tax is simple enough that even the average person can grasp it.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Friday December 15 2017, @06:09AM (7 children)
And since when did guns have "points"?
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 15 2017, @09:41AM
They do if you make them right. [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Friday December 15 2017, @08:51PM
Well, being held at the point end of the gun makes a lot more sense than being held at the long flat side of it. Maybe you'd get lucky and be held by the grip side. In any event, the barrel face is usually relatively pointy. :)
This sig for rent.
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 15 2017, @09:25PM (1 child)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayonet [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2) by VanessaE on Saturday December 16 2017, @07:31AM
Well that's certainly appropriate... a reference to a bayonet gets modded Touché.
(Score: 2) by dry on Saturday December 16 2017, @06:05AM (2 children)
Do they actually make everyone buy auto insurance in America? Here it is only if you want to operate a motor vehicle on a public road, really easy to avoid by simply not driving.
(Score: 2) by VanessaE on Saturday December 16 2017, @07:36AM (1 child)
No, you generally only have to buy auto insurance if you [co-]own or lease a roadworthy car, and in some jurisdictions, only if the car is actively used (so that old Buick sitting in the garage, that runs fine but hasn't been driven in years, may be exempt). Not sure how it works for rentals.
(Score: 2) by dry on Saturday December 16 2017, @08:50AM
Yea, that's basically how it is here (BC) excepting the plates are tied to insurance, the insurance has to cover the principle driver and as long as you are on private property the government don't care. Landlords and such can demand that you have storage insurance, which is cheap.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Friday December 15 2017, @06:30AM
They don't become experts on car insurance. They call the number on the commercial they like most and say what state they need to be insured in. Then the agent sets them up with the legally required insurance and upsells them on any extras that seem likely.
They may have no idea what the sales tax rate even is. They just fork over what the cashier says. The cashier may not know either, he/she just tells the customer whatever comes up on the register.
Most sole proprietors get an accountant to help them.
If we want to have less problems, we'll need less idIOT devices that insist on reaching outside of the local LAN.