To put it simply the Internet of Things is where you give every day objects, animals and/or people a unique identifier such as a mac address and connect them to a network where they exchange data over the internet (or within a private network). This is all done without the need for human to human or human to computer interaction.

The IoT came about with the convergence of wireless technlogies, micro-electromagnetical systems (MEMS) and the Internet.

An example of how the IoT works can be shown in these scenarios.

An Object

Motion detectors within a house that detect intruders. If one is set off this could trigger surveillance equipment to start recording within the area of the detection. A message could also be passed to the owners smartphone over the internet. The user can see a live feed of the surveillance camera and determine the course of action to take. This could reduce the amount of false alarms such as leaving a window open and a family pet sets off the alarm. If the user sees an intruder or anything suspicious they can send an alert from their smartphone to the authorities.

An Animal

The owner takes his dog out to the park. The dog runs away and the owner is unable to find him. Fortunately the dog has a transmitter attached to his collar and so the owner takes out his smartphone and with his dog finding app he can locate his dog use geo-location. Using the location data the dogs location is displayed on a map.

A person

The owner of a house approaches their front door. The Bluetooth is active on their mobile device and this unique signal identifier is detected by the home network system and unlocks the door (activates the lighting system if dark, etc.) This makes getting into the house more convenient and efficiently without the need to find house keys or locating light switches if over encumbered with bags of shopping for example.

Privacy & Security Concerns

The Internet of Things are designed to make people's lives easier to perform tasks and in some cases save on energy bills with intelligent appliances but there have been privacy and security concerns with all this data moving around the internet as well as the risk of hackers hijacking systems within the home.

For example security experts discovered a vulnerability in the LIFX smart light bulbs firmware where a hacker could potentially obtain the home routers password. If successful the hacker could gain control over any connected device in the home and take over. Electric bills could be increased if smart heaters were turned on or hackers could steal personal files from personal devices that are accessible via the wireless network. Another news story reported that Samsung warned users not to discuss personal information in front of their Smart TV's as someone could be listening in via the microphone.

Big Brother could be watching your every move. (Film: Nineteen Eighty-Four)

In theory anyone could gain access to your IoT enabled home, car, Ipad, etc. from anywhere in the world with an internet connection so safeguards must be taken to prevent such breaches of security.

Conclusion

The IoT is still an emerging technology that will take sometime before every household appliance, gadget and even the family pets are Internet ready. So there is little doubt that having your toaster talking to the bread bin wont be so far off in the future. The concerns many people have is the system secure enough from hackers and how is their privacy protected. From the example stories above the system can be hijacked with the potential scenario of a surveillance operation by amateurs or even Government operatives.

That said the benefits outweigh the negativity and with the proper security protocols in place the IoT can be made safe to use with security and privacy protected.

Internet of things

noun

noun: Internet of things

a proposed development of the Internet in which everyday objects have network connectivity, allowing them to send and receive data.

"if one thing can prevent the Internet of things from transforming the way we live and work, it will be a breakdown in security" ~ Source: Google.