Summary of the IEEE 4th World Forum on Internet of Things Security and Privacy Track

By Jeff Voas, Co-Chair

The IEEE 4th World Forum on Internet of Things held a 2-day workshop on Security and Privacy in Singapore on February 6-7, 2018. It was highlighted by 19 presentations and 4 panels.

The program page can be found at: http://wfiot2018.iot.ieee.org/top1-security-privacy-regimes/program/ and the titles and abstracts can be found at http://wfiot2018.iot.ieee.org/top1-security-privacy-regimes/distinguished-speakers/

The range of presentations was diverse, from Connected Car Security, to Smart Cities, to Smart Homes, to Smart Nations, and finally to what is Trust? Further, it was clear that there is still no accepted definition as to what IoT is because the speakers used the acronym loosely. And even further, this track questioned speakers and attendees throughout the presentations as to what does security and privacy mean in this emerging area? Answers differed between whether you looked at this problem as being a researcher, governance official, or industry practitioner.

It was clear from the presentations and comments by the audience that there are no simple and immediate answers to these questions. But one thing was clear: IoT is moving forward without proper definitions, standards, measurement, and consensus. This means that de facto standards and definitions may be the future in this space for the time being. This is a topic that future IEEE World Forums on Internet of Things will continue to address.