Designing a Better Internet of Things

Rob Thorburn, a PhD student with the Web Science Center for Doctoral Training, gave a talk to academics and his fellow peers on 11 December 2019 at the University of Southampton.

His talk addressed the challenges privacy and security surrounding the internet.

 

Overview

The Internet of Things is growing at an ever-increasing pace, especially in the consumer electronics segment. Though the associated convenience and downstream benefits of increased data analytics are clear, detrimental impacts on privacy and security are both widespread and persistent. To aid in addressing these challenges, a new methodology for IoT design is currently being developed. This methodology will incorporate the user's design requirements, GDPR compliance, adherence to the UK's code of good practice for consumer IoT security, and the production of compliance audit documentation.

About Rob

Robert holds two graduate degrees, an MA in applied ethics, and an MBA from the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa. He also holds an MSc from the University of Southampton where he is currently in the final year of his PhD research.

Following the completion of his MA in applied ethics, Robert worked in compliance auditing, verification and management consultancy. The latter eventually led to doing an MBA at the University of Stellenbosch’s business school. For his dissertation, Robert worked with KPMG to collate and assess data for a major corporate governance study. Following the completion of his MBA, Robert transitioned to finance and worked for a boutique firm in South Africa before moving to the UK where he joined Bloomberg at their London headquarters. 

Robert has always been deeply passionate about privacy and civil liberty, and as a result, has found himself increasingly concerned with both corporate and regulatory moves impacting on people’s lives online. Consequently, Robert returned to academia and is currently working towards a methodology for designing Internet of Things devices and systems in such a way that the resulting products are GDPR compliant, automatically generate evidentiary documentation for compliance audits, and can be incorporated into any existing design approach.