State Dept. using Internet of Things for more resilient embassies

The Internet of Things raises just as many challenges as it does opportunities — giving agencies both a wealth of real-time data and a broader surface area for cyberattacks. At the State Department, Landon Van Dyke, a senior adviser on energy, environment and sustainability and the agency’s head of analytics, sees IoT devices as an opportunity to give U.S. embassies in 190 countries a snapshot of their air quality — just one of several data points IoT devices can provide to better secure diplomatic facilities. Van Dyke, the State Department’s former chief sustainability officer, said the agency also has partnerships with governments to help them set up to their own network of IoT sensors for generators, building management systems and more.“It’s been quite a fun journey for us, to not only use the technology and try to secure it for our own use, but also to be able to share it around the world as part of our diplomatic mission,” Van Dyke said Sept. 5 at World Wide Technology’s Industry Day in Washington.