Spitballing IoT Security

Tue Oct 25 11:51:11 UTC 2016

> On Oct 25, 2016, at 3:10 AM, Ronald F. Guilmette <rfg at tristatelogic.com> wrote:
> 
> An IoT is -not- a general purpose computer.  In the latter case, it is
> assumed that the owner will "pop the hood" when it comes to the software
> configuration.

Ah, but they are.  In many cases you can ship a product faster and cheaper with an ARM based system running a stripped down Linux and some specialty I/O than building a properly hardened custom microcontroller.  Source: Recently went through a round of proposals and bids for a small IoT type product.

Also, you probably _don’t_ want the average consumer “popping the hood” on their PC OS.  They will screw something up.  Worked in small business IT hell for 8 years, and that was the single most dangerous thing a customer could do.

—Chris