Smart devices in the US get cybersecurity labelling to show they're safe

The White House has announced the new ‘U.S. Cyber Trust Mark’ programme, which was proposed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to help consumers choose safer smart devices. The labels will be added to products voluntarily but plenty of brands should add them as it may make the products more appealing and increase sales.

The new U.S. Cyber Trust Mark will be given to a whole range of smart devices including smart refrigerators, smart microwaves, smart televisions, smart climate control systems, smart fitness trackers, and more. The labelling programme should be up and running next year.

To award a label to a smart device, manufacturers must meet criteria published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). These criteria include using strong default passwords, having strong data protection measures, software updates, and incident detection capabilities.

The FCC is planning to set up a QR code system that’s linked to a national registry of certified devices. This will provide customers with specific and comparable security information about these smart products.

One of the interesting things about this programme for people outside the United States is that the U.S. Department of State is planning to support the FCC in engaging allies and partners towards harmonizing standards and pursuing mutual recognition of similar labelling efforts.

The new programme already has quite a lot of participants including Amazon, Best Buy, Carnegie Mellow University, CyLab, Cisco Systems, Connectivity Standards Alliance, Consumer Reports, Consumer Technology Association, Google, Infineon, the Information Technology Industry Council, IoXT, KeySight, LG Electronics U.S.A., Logitech, OpenPolicy, Qorvo, Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics, UL Solutions, Yale and August U.S.

Now that the programme has been announced, it will not be surprising to see other companies get involved in the initiative before it begins in 2024.

Let us know in the comments whether you welcome this move. Do you think the initiative will take off or be a flop?

Source: The White House

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