More than three decades after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency launched the Energy Star program, to help consumers find energy-efficient gadgets, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is doing something similar to steer people towards safer internet-connected devices.
The FCC and the White House today unveiled a program called the U.S. Cyber Trust Mark, which will see a shield logo attached to electronic goods—like smart TVs and refrigerators, smart climate control systems, and fitness trackers—that meet essential cybersecurity criteria.
The so-called Internet of Things certainly has a cybersecurity problem that needs fixing. Internet-connected devices often have terrible security that allows them to be hacked into for spying purposes or quietly dragooned into botnets that launch massive denial-of-service attacks. Cybersecurity researchers at Check Point Research warned a few months ago that attacks on connected devices within organizations were up by more than 40% year-on-year. Concern about these vulnerabilities is regularly cited as a factor holding people back from embracing the smart home.
“Poorly secured products enable attackers to gain a foothold in American homes and offices, and steal data or cause disruption,” Anne Neuberger, deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technology at the National Security Council, said Monday, according to the Washington Post.
The new U.S. Plan is still a work in progress and is only expected to fully launch next year. The National Institute of Standards and Technology will need to come up with the exact requirements, but they are expected to cover things like data protection, incident detection capabilities, and software updates—while also encouraging companies to sell their products with “unique and strong default passwords” rather than the easily guessable nonsense that has made it easier to form massive botnets.
A lot of major device makers and retailers are on board with this, including Amazon, Best Buy, Google, and Samsung. “Research shows consumers want more information on the safety and security of their connected devices, and we agree,” Consumer Technology Association president Gary Shapiro said in a statement.
The move has big national security implications for the U.S., of course, but the work being done here will likely prove influential abroad at a critical moment. The European Union, for example, is in the process of hammering out a new Cyber Resilience Act that targets many of the same issues, so the time is right for the U.S.—the source of so much “smart” technology—to set out what it wants gadget-makers to be doing.
Ultimately, the tech industry will be the winner here, if smart-home holdouts perceive greater safety that will allow them to finally dive in. More news below.
Want to send thoughts or suggestions to Data Sheet? Drop a line here.
David Meyer
NEWSWORTHY
Tesla’s directors give it back. Following an investor lawsuit over improper compensation, Tesla’s directors have agreed to return $735 million in stock awards and cash for options they have already exercised. The directors, including Oracle founder Larry Ellison, Fox empire scion James Murdoch and Musk's brother Kimbal Musk, denied wrongdoing but agreed to settle the case, which alleged that they improperly awarded themselves massive pay packages. As Bloomberg reports, CEO Elon Musk is included, but this is separate from the lawsuit over his $56 billion compensation package, in which a ruling is due soon.
Bluesky moderation furor. The social media platform Bluesky, which Jack Dorsey spun out of Twitter in 2019, is being heavily criticized for removing “numerous racist, ableist and transphobic slurs from the list of words that users are not allowed to use in their handles,” per TechCrunch. Meanwhile, Alex Gleason, the erstwhile head of engineering at Trump Media & Technology Group (makers of Truth Social) has quit that role to work on another Dorsey-funded project, Nostr.
Apple and Amazon collusion. A 2018 deal between Apple and Amazon over Spanish sales illegally blocked many sellers from offering Apple devices in Amazon’s marketplace, the country’s antitrust regulator has ruled. According to Reuters, the watchdog has fined Apple €143.6 million ($161.2 million) and Amazon €50.5 million ($56.7 million).
SIGNIFICANT FIGURES
47%
—The amount by which Cathie Wood’s ARK Investment Management has written down its Twitter stake. Wood still sounds bullish on Musk’s non-vehicular vehicle, telling the Wall Street Journal: “The write-down is not representative of our fundamental outlook and belief in the long-term return on investment we believe that it will have for our shareholders.”
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
The SEC chief sees A.I. Creating ‘conflicts of interest’ and maybe the next great financial crisis—unless we tackle ‘herding’, by Will Daniel
The UK is giving Microsoft more time to explain why its historic $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard should be legal, by Associated Press
‘Holy Grail’ iPhone which flopped in 2007 just sold for almost $200,000, by Chloe Taylor
Apple TV is accused of botching Lionel Messi’s unveiling in what marks a bumpy start to their historic revenue-sharing deal, by Paolo Confino
The EU A.I. Act can get democratic control of artificial intelligence–but only if open-source developers get a seat at the table, by Shelley McKinley
BEFORE YOU GO
Benjamin Franklin vs. Counterfeiters. Ben Franklin is famously honored on the $100 bill, but new research has highlighted his contributions to the fight against banknote forgery.
As University of Notre Dame researchers have established, the founding father used tiny colored threads, watermarks, and imprints of leaves to make his bills harder to copy. He apparently even developed a special graphite-based ink, though no one is quite sure what that achieved.
This is the web version of Data Sheet, a daily newsletter on the business of tech. Sign up to get it delivered free to your inbox.
