Communications - January 2013

be set up on the home router to allow the toy to be accessed from the Internet.

˲ Wireless scale. The second example technology we consider is a scale that wirelessly connects to an access point to send users’ measurements over the Internet to their accounts on a server. Users can access their data, graphs, and trends via an online Web site or a smartphone application.

˲ Security siren. The third technology is a siren that is part of a home automation or security system. The siren receives notification from entry sensors if a suspected break-in occurs and sounds an alarm. The various components in the home automation system communicate over short-range wireless.

Tables 3 and 4 present a high-level
view of how our framework might be
used to evaluate the approximate risk
posed by these device designs. Interpre-
tations and rankings of different risk
levels are subjective and depend upon
perspective. Table 3 considers the tech-
nologies according to the characteristics
presented in the section “Evaluating Po-
tential Risks.” Table 4 summarizes the
consequences that can result if the secu-
rity goals discussed in the section “Hu-
man Assets and Security Goals” are not
met. Color-coding provides an overview
of the comparative risk patterns of the
different devices.

review articles

cant security review by product designers before the device enters the market. Similarly, based on the data in these tables, consumer advocacy groups would likely identify this device as one deserving post-market security auditing.

Fortunately, security best practices— if deployed—could significantly harden this device against attack: for example, the ability to perform authenticated software updates could allow the manufacturer to quickly address vulnerabilities once uncovered and strong audit logs could help further dissuade attack.

Wireless scale. Turning to the wireless scale, we see that although it does have some technical features that increase its potential exposure to attacks (Table 3)—particularly the inclusion of Wi-Fi capabilities—it is not a particularly attractive attack target and the associated security goals are not critical (Table 4). While there are arguments for trying to harden all devices against all possible attacks, that strategy is not feasible in practice. First, increasing security may impact the usability, desirability, or utility of the product. Second, companies do not have unlimited budgets to spend on security. These tables suggest that if a single manufacturer produced both the mobile webcam toy and the scale, the company would be well advised to focus