A Critical Analysis on Internet of Things: Features and Vulnerabilities

Abstract

Smart devices have completely changed how society functions both outside and inside the home. A major concern is the Internet of Things (IoT), and the lack of awareness by the public of the limited data security built around IoT devices (Raggett, 2016). The purpose of this research is to investigate how a reliance on IoT devices within the home can come at the expense of personal privacy. There has been limited research conducted on how much, and what data is transmitted by IoT devices. This research focused upon data privacy and security concerns, privacy laws, law enforcement capabilities and legal precedents pertaining to personal privacy and IoT devices. The storage, transmission, sharing and retention of personal information through connected devices were found to pose substantial privacy concerns. There is a deficiency in public knowledge on the subject of IoT because people are putting a greater emphasis on functionality and design with these IoT tools that provide ease of life, but less regard for their own individual privacy. People may have reached a point where they have allowed too many other entities such as government, corporations, and data aggregators access to their personal information but limited knowledge as to what is being transmitted. Based on the research it seems that humans put a lesser value on their own privacy and personal information because the world around them is consumed by a pursuit of things like vanity, pleasure, and enjoyment. Companies should be required to provide a baseline explanation in detail exactly what, where, how, who, and anything else relating to the data transmission that contains any personal information about the consumer using the device. For anybody who doesn’t have a working knowledge of what that traffic should look like, it should be explained in reasonable terms so those who are not technical can understand the data capture.