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UCL STEaPP at the IoT Security Foundation Conference 2020
8 December 2020
Professor Madeline Carr and Dr Saheli Datta Burton presented their work on the Geopolitics of IoT, which investigates how political interest is embedded in the security standards by which the IoT is implemented.
The 2020 IoT Security Foundation Virtual Conference held between 1 – 4 December 2020 provided an update on the threat landscape, standards & regulations, best practice, next-practice and the latest developments in IoT cybersecurity.
Professor Madeline Carr, Professor of Global Politics and Cybersecurity at UCL STEaPP and Dr Saheli Datta Burton, Research Fellow at UCL STEaPP, led a session on their research ‘Geopolitics of IoT: Global standards and the case of connected fitness devices’. The project, which is titled GISt’ (Geopolitics of IIoT Standards) and funded by the PETRAS National Centre of Excellence, investigates how political interest is embedded in the security standards by which the IoT is implemented.
Standards are increasingly understood as a powerful mechanism through which IoT governance is enacted and they are regarded by states as linked to national security, national interest and state power.
In this presentation, the researchers focus on the intersection between issues of safety and security in wearable connected fitness devices which are now as ubiquitous as the security and safety risks they face through interconnectivity and interoperability. In particular, they look at the issues of interstate competitiveness where ambitions of increased productivity and efficiency very much outweigh security concerns, resulting in devices particularly susceptible to the vulnerabilities that emerge in the IoT ecosystem generally.
Drawing on the lens of ‘standards’ in the fitness devices domain they reflect on how different states are engaging with standards negotiations, which states are taking newly assertive roles, and which states are forming powerful alliances in standards forums to understand how technology and geopolitics will intersect in the coming decades.
The presentation can be watched in full below.