“I’ll Be Back” or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Internet of Things

Electronic devices are changing our lives, and we are rightfully concerned. Watching “The Terminator” and other ’80s movies about killer robots taking over the world has fueled our imagination of technology going rogue for the past 30 years. And, while some people struggle to even trust online or mobile banking, others have moved on to automate their homes and offices through the Internet of Things (IoT) network, giving machines and robots the power and independence to run our lives. The number of digital devices and platforms available to consumers has exploded in recent years. As a result, today’s consumer is more connected than ever, with more access to and deeper engagement with content and brands. On average, Americans own four digital devices and spend 60 hours a week on them, consuming content. But, how can we be sure these devices are not running malware designed to steal our data and compromise our privacy? Steven Sprague, a veteran in the trusted computing space, says that people don’t tend to lose data; devices steal it. However, you can use the “things” to secure the Internet of Things. Rather than communicating with us, our networked devices talk to each other. But, if our collected devices become our digital identity, how do we prove who we are and ensure that the machines, which we’ve given our lives to, act on our behalf? Sprague says the solutions are right under our noses in the form of Trusted Execution Environments (TEE) already integrated in most semiconductors used with today’s devices. In his presentation, he will lay out how new technology built on top of the TEE will secure tomorrow’s digital environment, and secure the integrity of the devices that surround us, by building the “device identity network” to secure the IoT. Sprague’s talk is an eye-opener of how we can securely navigate our lives without having to blindly trust (or mistrust) our increasingly digital world. If you are a consumer, mobile payments expert, Bitcoiner or app developer for wearables or the IoT, Sprague clearly lays out the fears and solutions available today, using hardware to secure the internet of things.