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NSA: Here’s $300,000, People. Go Build Us a Safer Internet of Things

posted by cmn32480 on Thursday August 20 2015, @11:21AM   Printer-friendly
from the who-cares-what-my-fridge-thinks dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

The NSA (National Security Agency) is funding development of an architecture for a "safer" Internet of Things (IoT), in the hope of incorporating better security at a product's design phase.

The controversial US intelligence agency is bestowing a $299,000, one-year grant to the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) for a project that aims to build a lightweight virtualisation architecture which will make it easier to build security into IoT systems before they leave the factory.

There are some interesting reactions to the announcement on the Sophos Naked Security blog.

Why would the NSA invest in a project that would make it harder for them to spy on you?

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  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by AndyTheAbsurd on Thursday August 20 2015, @12:22PM

    by AndyTheAbsurd (3958) on Thursday August 20 2015, @12:22PM (#225356) Journal

    How to have a safer Internet of Things: Do not connect your Things to the Internet without a damn good reason.

    There are no good reasons to connect your refrigerator, toaster, or breadbox to the Internet. There are somewhat good reasons to connect your oven or coffee pot to a network (for home automation purposes, like making sure they are turned off), but probably not to the Internet.

    Of course, connecting things to a home network without connecting them to the Internet is a skill that is beyond most Mere Mortals, so I don't expect that my advice will get listened to.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 20 2015, @01:55PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 20 2015, @01:55PM (#225381)

    Agreed. LAN of Things is fine for me but absolutely no IoT ever.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 20 2015, @02:24PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 20 2015, @02:24PM (#225398)

    There are no good reasons to connect your refrigerator, toaster, or breadbox to the Internet.

    I thought of one. What if you were arguing with someone on the internet about who could make a sandwich fastest? It would be much more difficult to fake the sandwich if information on when the breadbox was opened/closed, when the toast was done, and the amount of condiments in the fridge before vs after was publicly available.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 20 2015, @02:30PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 20 2015, @02:30PM (#225402)

      sudo make me a sandwich --fastest

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 20 2015, @03:33PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 20 2015, @03:33PM (#225438)

        And after you eat it...
        sudo gas chromatography && flush toilet