February 15, 2017

Changing the Security Perspective

Jessa Gramenz

Innovation is the core of advancement. Each new perspective allows the potential for creativity and ingenuity that inspire an individual to provide a solution to a problem. If we were not resourceful, our species would never have survived to the point we have today. The first seed of thought that grew into a successful idea sparked the future of our creative process. If we meet problems with solutions, our ideas can be limitless. The ideas that led to the widespread popularity of Internet, the PC, smartphones, and technology, as we know to be emerging today were once faced with problems and ridicule.

As security professionals, our task is to take those innovations and not only secure them but to help build the public faith in them so that our innovation does not slow. I have read a few articles about the predicted decline of technological innovation on LinkedIn recently, and they each have valid points. On the one hand you have individuals who embrace technology, and they usually encourage the spread by gifting an IoT device to a less tech person, and setting it up so they can enjoy the perks of innovation. On the other hand, you have individuals who fear technology or are just intimidated by it and only resort to accepting the change if they are at risk of being out of sync with society. Research has shown that older generations are less likely to attempt to learn new technology because as we age the neuroplasticity of our brains makes it more difficult to learn new things. That would explain the reluctance to accept tech innovation from one perspective, but I also believe that many people are reluctant to try that new gadget because of the lack of trust in it. For example, someone close to me recently received a smart lock as a gift. The device locks and unlocks your front door based on your proximity to the device. As an individual with security in mind at all times, I immediately went off on a research tangent to look into the security of the device and see what known vulnerabilities exist with such devices. When asking my tech-obsessed friend about how they feel about the security of it, he was not concerned but curious as to what I found during my research.

I find the willingness to accept the risk during experimentation with tech innovations to be interesting because the same factors that some accept are the same factors that some people would consider as a reason not to experiment with a device such as a smart lock. All innovation has struggled with the issue of risk. For example, I recall a few years ago reading about webcam baby monitors that were being hacked into. As a parent, the idea of someone else watching my child is creepy, but this is one of those compounding technologies that has faced the same risk before the addition of cameras and Wi-Fi came into it. There were fears of electromagnetic radiation from the devices used for baby monitoring. Wi-Fi connected devices are not the only risky devices, but being connected added another vulnerability to a device parents trust for safety of their babies.

The point is, the risk will exist for almost anything we use, technology related or not. What we need to focus on is increasing public trust in these devices (with increased awareness about security when designing innovative devices and technologies) so that our creative spark doesn’t wane. We want to encourage creativity from our innovators. To inspire them to continue, we have to find a way to educate consumers about risk and ways to mitigate their vulnerabilities so that they do not shy away from embracing the changes that will make our way of life a little easier. Innovators: keep dreaming up ideas, engineers: make security a core of your designs, security professionals: educate our consumers, so they are informed and feel in control of their devices. Security is crucial, but we need technological innovation to test our limitations and broaden our awareness about what is possible with technology.