Top regulator fears ‘smart-home hacking’

The head of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) raised alarms on Tuesday about the potential hazards to people’s privacy that come with the rise of connected bracelets, cars and other devices.

The billions of “smart” devices on the so-called “Internet of Things” pose serious threats to personal privacy, Chairwoman Edith Ramirez said at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, even while they may help with daily tasks or improve people’s health.

{mosads}“These potential benefits are immense, but so too are the potential risks,” Ramirez said.

Not only do many devices leave a “digital trail” about people’s behavior such as where they go, what they watch and how they shop, but many companies share that information without people’s knowledge or consent.

And the vast storehouses of that data maintained by companies could present a wealth of information available to hackers.

The coming year, Ramirez feared, could mark the beginning of “smart-home hacking.”

Ramirez, whose agency is responsible for protecting people against companies with unfair or deceptive business practices, has sounded similar concerns about the privacy perils of connected devices before. But Tuesday’s remarks at the tech industry’s biggest showcase served as a sober counterpoint to the announcements of new devices from major players like Samsung and Nest, the home device company recently purchased by Google.

To counter the concerns, Ramirez told companies to “build security into their devices from the very outset.”

Device developers should also limit the data they collect to that which is necessary for a specific purpose and then get rid of it when it is no longer needed, she suggested, and make sure that users are fully aware of what it collected and why.

“As is evident here this week, companies are investing billions of dollars in this new industry; they should also make appropriate investments in privacy and security,” she said. “The stakes are too high to do otherwise.”