What The Winner Of CES’ Highest Honor Says About The Future Of IoT

This week, technologists will gather in Las Vegas for what could be considered the hallmark event of the year for hardware: the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). CES can be best described as a glimpse into the future of the technology that touches our everyday lives: from in-car displays to virtual assistants to drones and (of course) the wealth of everyday objects that have been made “smart”. When we talk about smart objects, mirrors or trashcans, we’re referring to their induction into the internet of things. We’ve seen from experts that we could expect the next innovation in IoT technology to come in the form of better security. We saw it at the NIST Cybersecurity and Risk Management Conference, and apparently, CES agrees: the winner of their “Best in Innovation” award this year was none other than a security-based router. TrustBox by Scalys comes to the market just as many consumers welcome a host of new connected technologies into their homes following the holidays. We saw just before the end of the year, though, that oftentimes consumers are not aware of the necessary protocols to keep these devices from being harnessed by cybercriminals.

CyberSaint CEO, George Wrenn, has discussed the necessary role that device manufacturers need to have in developing stronger security protocols. Oftentimes it is a balance between user experience and security – while complex passwords and multifactor authentication are more secure, it can detract from a seamless user experience.

We expect to see more companies flaunt their security and privacy features at CES this year. Before the conference even began, Apple set up a billboard playing off of the iconic Las Vegas tagline: “What happens on your iPhone stays on your iPhone.” With TrustBox taking home the Best in Innovation, we can expect security and privacy to take center stage for new devices.

What we’re seeing now, though, is how legacy IoT technologies that were rapidly developed in the name of securing market share are the devices in most need for greater security efforts. CyberSaint CEO George Wrenn has spoken about a device owners “right to patch”. In short, a device owner, whether on the enterprise IoT or an individual consumer, deserves to be secure regardless of when they purchased their technology.

What this means for device makers now is ensuring they have the ability to update the security and privacy technology on these devices as seamlessly as possible. As CES opens and we move into 2019, expect to see the convergence of user experience and security.