Internet of Things : A qualitative study about people’s knowledge of IoT and concerns in using IoT devices

Abstract: Internet of Things (IoT) devices often described as Smart products for consumers consists ofphysical things that inherit an Internet connection and therefore enable physical things to talkbetween each other and with people. IoT is a growing market with products existing in e.g.,consumers' homes, healthcare, or industries. These physical things have sensors that cangather information about users which later on can be used to adapt the behaviors of IoTdevices or create profiles of users. As with any device that is connected to the Internet, IoTdevices can fall victim to attacks from outside parties that try to steal private information orobserve users of the devices. With the growing market, it is of importance to understand what people know about IoTdevices and that a Smart home does not come with comfortability without its rough edges.This Bachelor thesis answers what people know about IoT, how they handle security issues,and the sharing of people’s personal information.The data was gathered through a survey that had 133 participants, the survey was shared inFacebook groups and spread through the snowball effect. After a participant was done withthe survey, they were urged to continue to share the survey with people they knew. The result shows that the majority of people have not heard the term IoT before and that it isnot common to take steps in protecting private information when using IoT devices. IoT is aterm that is unfamiliar to many, the result shows that the term Smart devices is morecommonly used than IoT devices among people.