Keeping the lights on (or off)

1. Keeping the lights on (or off) Someone famous said “If you can switch a light, you can topple an empire.” I don’t have an empire, but it still got me wondering… after IOT happens, how will I control my lights? People have a terrible track record managing the security of their digital IT infrastructure. Whether the hackers are bad guys trying to steal our identity, commercial entities observing our behavior, or government spies, we have very little assurance these days that our electronic transactions are secure or private. If you have any illusions about your security, watch this 20 minute video brought to my attention in a blog from Tozny.

2. I guess one day there will be an iPhone or iPad app that lets me manage my policies. For example, TV with ID 12345 can control lights when user Mike is logged in from his house. The smart device makes sense, because it has a lot of great sensors that will make security stronger and more invisible. Apple has been patenting biometric authentication mechanisms, for example, two factor authentication, that can identify you without your even knowing it. So given the dire consequences of controlling the lights, where will I even administer security for my “house”? What device will I use? Apple to the rescue? Recently, Apple has embraced the idea of security as competitive advantage. Let’s imagine this use case: what if my TV has a “Movie Mode”, which calls API’s to dim the lights, lower the blinds and start the popcorn? Will I need an Apple TV, Apple lights, Apple blinds and an Apple popcorn maker? How do I ensure that my pranky eight year old can’t put my TV in movie mode when I’m on a conference call? However I fear that we will be a much poorer society if we only have security for Apple products–both in terms of diversity, and in terms of money in our savings account. I’m sure even people at Apple might acknowledge that Apple won’t be able to produce every electronic device in your IOT house. One of the exciting things about IOT is that it’s the first time individuals could perhaps compete with huge companies making innovative smart devices.

3. The hardest work in front of us is arriving at consensus. How do we get big companies, little companies, and open source enthusiasts to agree on standards that will enable centralized security? This is one of the reasons Gluu joined the Open Interconnect Consortium with Intel, Cisco and Samsung. It is also the reason we are directly participating in the User Managed Access Working Group, which is working on a standard that can be used for API access management. Other efforts are also underway, for example, the Zigbee Alliance announced new security standards that “provide consumers with the capability to directly control all devices in a home with one remote control.” Also the Allseen Alliance recently announced an initiative to advance smart lighting. At Gluu, our mission is to leverage open standards, and open source web access management system software, just in case Apple doesn’t save us from Big Brother (or Apple turns out to be big brother!) For more information on the Gluu Server, the world’s first free open source access management platform. Article resource:-http://gluu.blog.com/2014/10/08/keeping-the-lights-on-or-off/