{"id":6241,"date":"2025-08-15T13:23:50","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T12:23:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/standards\/\/\/the-uk-edges-closer-to-new-uk-regulations-on-iot-security\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T16:16:03","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T16:16:03","slug":"the-uk-edges-closer-to-new-uk-regulations-on-iot-security","status":"publish","type":"standard-post-filter","link":"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/standards\/cyber-essentials\/insights\/the-uk-edges-closer-to-new-uk-regulations-on-iot-security\/","title":{"rendered":"The UK Edges Closer to New UK Regulations on IoT Security"},"content":{"rendered":"

IoT and OT devices now outnumber conventional computing devices such as PCs, smartphones, and laptops by two to one, a ratio that will rise to three-to-one by 2025. Is regulation now overdue?<\/em><\/p>\r\n

If market data company Statista is correct, there are now around 13.8 billion Internet of Things (IoT) devices<\/a> in the world, a definition that covers everything from smart TVs, smart speakers, thermostats, security cameras, and doorbells to motor vehicles and a growing array of Internet-enabled M2M industrial operational technology (OT) and medical monitoring. By contrast, Gartner reckons it\u2019s more like 21 billion devices, including those being used by two-thirds of the world\u2019s enterprise networks.<\/p>\r\n

Significantly, IoT and OT devices now outnumber conventional computing devices such as PCs, smartphones, and laptops by two to one, a ratio that will rise to three-to-one by 2025. Beyond that, it\u2019s anyone\u2019s guess but it\u2019s not hard to believe that the growth of smart cities and universal IoT enablement might one day mean that there are ten, twenty or a hundred times as many of these devices in the world as any other type of computer.<\/p>\r\n

What\u2019s striking about all this IoT and OT \u2013 or \u2018smart\u2019 products as the former is now more commonly termed – is how little anyone knows about its security, past or future. IT professionals are probably sick of hearing about this, hoping against hope that someone is working on a solution. In fact, a lot of agencies are working on a solution. The issue is that the problem keeps getting larger and more complex the more engineers think about how to solve it.<\/p>\r\n

\u00a0<\/h2>\r\n

Secure by Design Regulation<\/h2>\r\n

But what is <\/em>that problem? According to the UK Government, which trailed an initiative called Secure by Design<\/a> in 2018, the IoT malaise is that too many hardware makers have been turning out poorly-designed and secured smart products because it was the cheapest and fastest way to make money.\u00a0 While this read like a set of good practice guidelines, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) followed up in 2019<\/a> and April 2021 with drafts of binding laws, which have now expanded to include other connected devices such as smartphones. Among the eminently sensible proposals:<\/p>\r\n