back to article IoT coverage for 95% of UK by 2019? We can't even do 4G, Sigfox

French Internet of Things connectivity firm Sigfox says it is partnering with a hitherto unheard-of firm, WND-UK, to cover "95 per cent" of Blighty by 2019. WND is a very recent expansion into the UK, having set up shop earlier this year. Sigfox is a French-headquartered firm which has had an active commercial presence in the …

  1. MrTuK
    WTF?

    Hackers delight

    Well, any sensible (intelligent) IT person wouldn't use IoT unless they want to hack other peoples IoT devices !

    What chance has security got if manufacturers can't even lock down Internet routers !

    And my final words are that once installed, will these IoT devices phone home for security updates, will the owners be aware that their device is an IoT and will do security updates manually if it cannot do them automatically ?

    Basically the future is going to be a f**king nightmare, especially with the likes of smart meters and IoT devices !

    1. CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

      Re: Hackers delight

      What chance has security got if manufacturers can't even lock down Internet routers !

      Especially as IoT coders don't seem to have noticed this modern thing calls HTTPS..

      Can you spell MITM? I'm sure you can..

  2. alain williams Silver badge

    I can see myself buying

    lots of copper sheeting with which to wrap aerials for things that I buy that do not come in non IoT versions.

  3. Christian Berger

    Mixing IoT with cellular networks

    IoT has nothing to do with cellular networks. It's just a buzzword.

    However the hype has attracted companies to build specialized "IoT" networks which can be rolled out much more easily as they have receive only base stations. Essentially you need no license for that, so most of the effort is actually coding some bizarre cloud platform which does get the data from the base stations and provide them to the users... the same thing could be done via E-Mail.

    Those dedicated networks typically work one way, so the device sends data to a central receiver. Typically they can send a few dozends bits. A typical protocol is LoRa explained here:

    https://media.ccc.de/v/33c3-7945-decoding_the_lora_phy

    (or in that PoC||GTFO article)

    BTW it being a send-only protocol solves lots of security problems. Privacy usually isn't an issue with such applications as they usually monitor things like pipe pressures or weather clock are still running.

    1. John Sager

      Re: Mixing IoT with cellular networks

      Privacy usually isn't an issue with such applications as they usually monitor things like pipe pressures or weather clock are still running

      Speak for yourself. The pressure in my pipes is my own affair. And monitoring IoT traffic from premises will eventually tell you quite a lot about the behaviour of the occupants if it's in clear.

      Being tech-savvy will hopefully help me avoid the most egregious horrors of the IoT world but I pity the poor buggers who can't evaluate this stuff themselves.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Meh

        Re: Mixing IoT with cellular networks

        Privacy usually isn't an issue with such applications as they usually monitor things like pipe pressures or weather clock are still running

        The people who run surveillance camera networks might disagree. And even your thermostat will tell people whether you are away on holiday or not.

      2. Christian Berger

        Re: Mixing IoT with cellular networks

        You'll notice that you're not the target market for this technology. It's aimed at industrial operators. Security cameras would be impossible to run over those networks as you don't have the bandwidth to send a picture per day.

  4. Steve Todd

    Since IoT generally doesn't need much bandwidth

    You can cover huge areas with low power ISM frequency networks like LoRa. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LPWAN

    Rolling out to 95% of the population may not be as hard as El Reg thinks.

  5. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Gimp

    " industry is proceeding..nationwide IoT network..in place..commercial customers by late 2018."

    Some people seem to think this will be one way IE it's SCADA without the SCA part.

    Sorry but I'm baffled. AFAIK everyone who does this already has this level of access. Everyone who needs remote telemetry (and can afford it) does this already.

    BTW the UK does have a private trunked digital data network already called TETRA. I think Tescos use it to link all their site internally and can allow break out calls between sites. Much cheaper than mobile phone charges.

    So where is this massive market of people who a) Want to collect lots of data from lots of places about "stuff" and b) Can pay what this network will charge.

    Or is this to implement tracking of all UK suspects citizens who don't have a mobile phone to track?

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like