Cyber insurers could help drive IoT standards

Cyber insurance premiums could prove a big driver of Internet of Things standards.

Machine-to-machine communication has grown up in separate silos for just about every industry, but as it expands in the coming years as part of the broader Internet of Things wave, standards could save a lot of cost and effort, speakers at a networking conference said Monday. 

Having a common approach that works can save IoT vendors from having to reinvent the wheel, said Jim Zerbe, head of IoT products at Neustar, a real-time information services and analytics company.

Security is one place that's needed, he said. For a long time, machine-to-machine security has relied on industry-specific technologies and "security through obscurity," resulting in easily hackable systems. Standard, open technologies across industries can attract armies of developers to build strong defenses.

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