Heard of the ioXt Alliance, IoT readers?
If you have, marvelous. Feel free to skip the following paragraph.
If you haven’t, here’s the scoop:
The mission statement of the ioXt Alliance is clear: Build confidence in IoT products through standardized security and privacy requirements, product compliance programs, and public transparency therein. Through the harmonization of multi-stakeholder, national and international connections, ioXt organizations come together to set impactful standards that bring security, upgradeability and transparency to the IoT market; to businesses, and directly into the hands of consumers.
Relevance-wise, the ioXt Alliance also happens to include the likes of Amazon, Lenovo, TikTok, Roku, T-Mobile, Motorola, Meta, Legrand, TCL, Honeywell, Wiliot, Schneider Electric, Nord Security, Exprivia, McAfee, SonicWall and many, many more. (Browse the full list here.)
Each of these members stands by what’s known as the ioXt Security Pledge:
- Products shall not have a universal password; unique security credentials will be required for operation.
- All product interfaces shall be appropriately secured.
- Product security shall use strong, proven, updatable cryptography using open, peer-reviewed methods and algorithms.
- Product security shall be appropriately enabled by default.
- The product shall only support signed software updates.
- Manufacturers shall apply and/or automate timely security updates.
- Manufacturers shall implement a vulnerability reporting program, which will be addressed in a timely manner.
- Manufacturers shall be transparent about the period of time that security updates will be provided.
These tenets – admittedly a smidge more involved than the simplicity of the ioXt mission statement – are still clear, nevertheless. After all, they have to be; with all of our digital devices (billions of them, to be sure) connected to the internet as part of our day-to-day lives, convenience and speed evolve alongside what the ioXt Alliance calls “well-founded fear” – however, not a fear insurmountable. While consumers may often wonder if their devices, quote, “bleed data and betray privacy,” it is on developers and manufacturers to protect them in the face of exponential IoT growth (that is further compounded by growingly intense practices exercised by bad actors). We saw a somewhat similar philosophy take effect in the light of the U.S. Cyber Trust Mark program for IoT developers; our latest update on it can be read here.
This is why creating wholly standardized, secure-by-design products and services in full compliance with ioXt Security Pledge marketplace standards is vital.
And just last week, a new ioXt announcement came to light; we figured we’d share with y’all.
The ioXt Alliance has announced an additional strategy behind its business focus. See, while ioXt leadership will of course continue to honor and support IoT offerings that honor the ioXt Security Pledge (as well as those that’ve received its prestigious ioXt Certification), the ioXt Alliance is now providing supplemental resources for frame-working a comprehensive Secure IoT Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) plan, too.
This new ioXt platform, according to the official news release, “will deliver a suite of robust tools and services designed to empower manufacturers in securely developing, deploying, and managing smart devices.” Key ioXt Secure IoT PaaS features include deeper device integration for seamlessly integrating various sensors, actuators and connectivity modules, centralized smart device management and controls when talking about firmware updates and configuration settings, and support for a vast number of highly scalable architectures to ensure that businesses’ products grow responsibly alongside the businesses themselves, and in tandem with the pace of profound technological changes we see taking place.
Overall, this new strategic investment in Secure IoT PaaS, quote, “underscores the ioXt Alliance’s commitment to driving innovation and security across the IoT landscape. By offering this platform, a new set of industry standards can be laid so businesses have even more of what they need to succeed in a securely connected world.”
For extra clarification, a deeper dive into the ioXt Alliance’s pledge can be accessed here.
Edited by Greg Tavarez
This post was originally published on the 3rd party site mentioned in the title of this this site