Greenwave Systems: “The Internet of Things is not new or revolutionary – it’s the evolution of compute and, as has always been, it is all about you”

London, UK – 19 October 2016: Learning from the past, taking
security seriously and protecting the consumer must be at the heart of
developing propositions for the Internet of Things (IoT) because it’s all about
personal data, Greenwave Systems’ Chief Scientist advised today.Speaking at the Broadband World Forum, Jim Hunter told the packed show floor
that the real opportunity in the Internet is in connecting it with people;
being able to put individual pieces of data about people’s lives into context
to make it meaningful.

In his presentation titled “The Internet of Things about you: Evolving from
data to content and what you can do”, Hunter went on to warn the audience that
while pieces of data in isolation might be harmless, once they’re put together
and a picture is formed, the information gained could be dangerous if it fell
into the wrong hands.

“If you look at a picture, it is made up of hundreds of thousands of pixels,”
said Hunter. “Look at one pixel in isolation and you can’t identify what it’s
for – it could be of anything from anywhere and it’s the same with data. A
single snapshot of data is meaningless without context, but align a ‘who’,
‘what’, ‘where’ or ‘when’ and the picture starts to build. As you begin to
gather more pixels or data you can see how individual pieces fit together, then
gradually you build a story and gain insight. You have information.

“The IoT – or the IoY (Internet of You) – is about defining what those
individual pixels are, which can build the stories which make sense. It’s then
finding the part of the picture which gives the insight and information needed
to provide a tailored personal service or solution. The caution, however, is
around putting the right security measures in place to ensure this information
cannot be used by the wrong people.”

As co-chair of the Privacy
Security Committee on the IoT Consortium, a global group of companies helping
to shape the public messaging about IoT, Hunter explained in his presentation
how he is working to establish a minimum bar for understanding the importance
of privacy and security when developing IoT products.

“Firstly we want to help companies do the right thing for the consumer and
secondly, ensure there’s protection in place when things go wrong,” he
continued. “Nothing should be available online without security measures in
place. Too often for developers, security is sprinkled on top rather than baked
in and that just isn’t good enough when you’re dealing with personal data.”

Hunter also outlined how the IoT is not a revolution, rather an evolution of
compute and about exploring the opportunities which exist in the software we
develop – how we make it personal.

“The term ‘IoT’ is a misnomer – the Internet was always about things connecting
so we’re not reinventing the wheel but simply refining it for purpose and for
individual users,” he concluded. “Anyone developing new ideas in this sector
would do well to research what successes have already been achieved and build
on them – ensuring right from the start that security and the handling of
consumer data is given the highest priority.”

For further information, visit www.greenwavesystems.com or
to find out more about the Broadband World Forum visitwww.tmt.knect365.com/bbwf.