The USA has cooked up a label that smart device vendors can voluntarily slap on their products - the US Cyber Trust Mark. The program aims to "recognise smart products that meet cybersecurity criteria from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which include the use of unique and strong default passwords, data protection, software updates, and incident detection capabilities". There will be a national database that consumers can use to compare various devices and make a somewhat informed decision before purchase. Kinda like those energy consumption labels on appliances, but for smart house gadgets. Would be nice if it was mandatory, but it's better than nothing and may introduce a baseline minimum set of not-shit specs for a product sector notorious for lax security practices.
If you liked this tiny snippet of content from The Sizzle - Australia's favourite daily email containing the latest tech news & bargains - then sign up for a 30-day free trial below. No credit card required! Learn more about The Sizzle at https://thesizzle.com.au