Security and privacy concerns for IoT adoption in the home domain : A user perspective

Abstract: Internet of Things (IoT) is an emerging technological revolution, a new paradigm, with the ability to improve our lives in many areas. Smart homes, smart buildings, smart cities, smart energy management, industrial processing, healthcare, logistics, transport, agriculture & farming, are a some of the areas where IoT is expected to make a big difference. The IoT growth has been almost exponential and is expected to reach between 20 and 43 billion smart devices by 2025., However, for the technology to be widely accepted and adopted, it needs to provide the users with benefits that upweights the cost and risks. but for the technology to be widely accepted and adopted by the users, it needs to provide the users with benefits that upweights the cost and risks. While new functionality is continuously added and the cost decreases with larger volumes and technological advances, the risk is also growing the more the technology is involved in our lives. An increasing number of serious incidents where threat sources gain unauthorized access, or personal data being disclosed or misused, have a negative impact on user adoption. However, producers and service providers prioritize putting their products on the market as fast as possible, and don’t seem to be aware that users find security and privacy as important as functionality. Therefore, it is of great importance that threat sources won’t be able to gain unauthorized access and that users’ personal data aren’t disclosed. However, producers and service providers prioritize putting their products on the market as fast as possible, and don’t seem to be aware that users are willing to pay as much for security and privacy as for new functionality.  It is however not enough to solve the worst issues. Most users are not experts and can’t assess the resilience of a system. Government, producers and service providers must therefore apply a user perspective, understanding and recognizing users concerns, and work actively towards gaining the trust of the users. While the research in security technology is in rapid progress, there is still fundamental research gaps in the perception of IoT security and privacy, the creation of trust, and the barriers for IoT adoption. This paper takes on a holistic approach to examine how producers and service providers can gain user trust and facilitate home IoT adoption