New research from Gemalto is highlighting the security risks associated with the Internet of Things, and raising a call for government intervention to help protect businesses.

Reporting on the results of surveys of 950 IT and business executives, Gemalto has concluded that only about half – that is, 48 percent – of businesses are actually able to detect if their connected devices have been breached. And yet businesses continue to invest in IoT, raising their budgets from 11 percent in 2017 to 13 percent now, with 90 percent believing it’s important to customers.

Commenting on the findings, Gemalto Data Protection CTO Jason Hart called the situation “extremely worrying”, adding that it’s partly the result of a lack of consistent regulation from government authorities. Increasing threats, he said, “will only continue unless governments step in now to help industry avoid losing control.”

On that note, IT and business leaders appear to concur. According to Gemalto’s report, 79 percent of respondents would like “more robust guidelines on IoT security,” and 59 percent want clarification on “who is responsible for protecting IoT.”

The findings echo those of a previous Gemalto-commissioned survey from 2017, which also found a vast majority of respondents calling for government regulation of IoT security. Progress has undoubtedly been made since then, but clearly there is still a considerable gap to be filled.