On Friday, October 14, 2016, the Atlantic Council’s Cyber Statecraft Initiative hosted a discussion on new approaches to cybersecurity and public safety in the Internet of Things (IoT).

IoT is expected to increase the number of connected systems in our societies one hundredfold in the next decade—a number that will include connected vehicles, medical devices, and the power grid. Despite their tremendous promise, insecure IoT devices have also made societies vulnerable to adversaries willing to disrupt them and erode our trust in key markets. While there is urgent need for increased attention toward developing defensible and resilient cyber capabilities, the public policy and regulatory climate remain poorly suited to the task.

The moderated panel discussion looked at new policy solutions to securing connected devices, where the consequences of their failures are measured by loss of consumer confidence, human life, public safety, and trust in government. Participants presented four different perspectives based on the forthcoming book Cyber Insecurity: Navigating the Perils of the Next Information Age from Rowman & Littlefield, providing a technically literate perspective on these complex issues for the next administration and 115th Congress.

Image: Beau Woods moderates a discussion between Dr. Suzanne Schwartz and Joshua Corman on the safety of IoT devices.