The UK government has unveiled a law to enhance the security of consumers' Internet of things devices, a move deemed necessary to protect millions of people from cyber-attacks.
In a statement, Matt Warman, the UK's minister for digital and broadband, said the law was part of an effort to "make the UK the safest place to access the Internet" and would be implemented as soon as possible.
These initiatives, jointly developed with the UK's National Cybersecurity centre, will require manufacturers of the consumer Internet of things to adopt unique passwords, rather than default factory settings; provide an open access point to report vulnerabilities; and indicate the shortest period of time that devices will receive security updates.
Equipment, including television, cameras and home helpers, is covered by law.
Warman added that the new law would "hold companies that produce and sell networked devices accountable," noting that "robust security standards are built from the design stage, not added afterwards."
Prior to this, the European Telecommunications Standards Association launched the voluntary code of conduct for consumer Internet of things security, secure by design, in 2018.
GSMA think tank predicts that by 2025, there will be 24.6 billion internet of things connections.
