NIST Unveils IoT Baseline of Core Cybersecurity Features for Comment

In a release aptly labeled “A Starting Point for IoT Device Manufacturers” the National Institute of Standards and Technology(NIST), an arm of the Department of Commerce, recently added to the discussion with the publication. NIST sought to provide Internet of Things (IoT) device manufacturers a better understanding of appropriate cybersecurity features for the vast and constantly proliferating range of IoT devices. NIST’s fundamental purpose is to improve the securitibility of IoT devices and to identify, in general terms, the features that can be designed so that customers can better use them to manage cybersecurity risk profiles. In 2017, as part of a Presidential Executive Order titled “Strengthening the Cybersecurity of Federal Networks and Critical Infrastructure,” the Departments of Commerce and Homeland Security were tasked to lead a process to identify and promote actions to improve the resilience of the Internet and the communications ecosystem.