We have written in the past about all the money flowing into the Internet of Things and the projected revenue companies like Cisco are forecasting. We broke the news about Cisco acquiring IOE.com in stealth mode back in January and now Cisco is offering a prize for securing the Internet of Things.
Ellen Messmer wrote on NetworkWorld.com,
San Francisco — Cisco today kicked off a contest with $300,000 in prize money that challenges security experts around the world to put together ways to secure what’s now called the “Internet of Things,” the wide range of non-traditional computing devices used on the electric grid, in healthcare and many other industries. At the conclusion of his keynote address at the RSA Conference, Christopher Young, senior vice president for the security group at Cisco, announced what he called the “Internet of Things Security Grand Challenge.”
In my opinion this will be one of the most important areas for the Internet of Things to thrive, if this cannot be secured then the public should understand all the potential risks, in most cases they should probably disconnect. This is an area with a lot of money and a lot of hype being bandied about, but the crucial component is security. Consumers will bring about very vociferous protests if their connected homes turn against them.
Do I win a prize for registering IOTSecured.com?
Looks like all these devices will make premium domains boom by 2020.
How much is the Internet of everything worth? Cisco says $19 trillion
http://m.cnet.com/news/how-much-is-the-internet-of-everything-worth-cisco-says-$19-trillion/57619548
There were more than 10 billion connected devices in 2010, and they outnumber the actual number of people now. By 2020, Chambers said he expects to see 50 billion devices connected to the Internet.
$300K seems like a really cheap “prize” for something so important in a market that should bring trillions to companies in the future. Any computer security expert talented enough to come up with a solution that will work is likely already making that kind of money each year as it is.
Come on, Cisco. You pay 2.8 million for the domain name and then offer a paltry $300K to put together ways to keep it secure? Seriously?
@Grim. IOT.com is for sale at $2.8MM, Cisco bought IOE.com for an undisclosed amount I think.
@Tanglewood
Ah, my error on the price. The thoughts behind the rest of my post still stand, though.
@Grim I agree spot on and when I first read it, I thought it said $3 million. Cisco can easily handle that and it will insure that the best minds are working on it in many creative ways.