IoT: Industry snakeoil or one-way ticket to fame and riches?

Re: Help me sell security of the IoT

Seconded. Not one mainstream OS is completely "un-hackable", and I would hazard a guess that a few of the "bespoke" ones aren't entirely secure.

Sad to say, but I suspect greatly that it will take a fairly minor security hole that affects someone like John Chambers (boiled freezer anyone?) to wake up the industry to the fact that just because it isn't just someone's "personal device" no-one will want to abuse it.

It's not just the general security angle of being hacked, think about the privacy angle... just how much junk mail could you get if Walmart (other bad employers are also available) can get into your fridge and work out what your eating? There's already anecdotal reports of fridges sending spam around the internet. (surely that's tinned and lives in a cupboard?)