New government agencies are needed to deal with IoT security regulations, says IBM Resilient CTO

Speaking at a conference in San Francisco this week, IBM Resilient Chief Technology Officer Bruce Schneier called for the creation of a new government agency to focus on regulating the Internet of Things (IoT), especially from a security point of view. As reported by TechTarget, Schneier pointed out that cybersecurity risks associated with the IoT require governmental intervention, as ‘the market is not going to fix this because neither the buyer nor the seller cares’. He also mentioned that governments are going to get involved in addressing IoT threats regardless of actions taken by the private sector, and this will start in courts of law. According to Schneier, ‘our choice is smarter government involvement or stupider government involvement. And we have to start thinking about this now, otherwise it will be imposed on us’. Schneier’s proposal follows previous calls for governmental intervention to improve IoT security.