GE Appliances has become the world’s first household appliance brand to test its connected products against UL’s IoT Security Rating assessment.
 
The IoT Security Rating is a security verification and labelling option for consumer IoT products. UL aims to help manufacturers and developers demonstrate the security due diligence of their products by leveraging proven security best practices and rating the security posture of IoT products.
 
This helps improve the transparency of security with consumers and assist them in making conscious and informed purchasing decisions.
 
As part of an on-going engagement, UL is testing and assessing all connected products on Kentucky-based GE Appliances’ IoT security platform, including dishwashers, washers, dryers, refrigerators, ovens, water heaters and water softeners to help demonstrate baseline security capabilities and protection of their consumer’s data at the appliance, on the GE Appliances mobile app and in the cloud.
 
The IoT Security Rating categorises products according to a five-level scale: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and Diamond. Verified products receive a differentiated UL Verified Mark security label – specifying the achieved security level – and are evaluated on an on-going basis by UL.
 
The UL Verified Mark code can be accessed on the UL Verify web site. The achieved UL Verified Mark can serve as a competitive differentiator for manufacturer’s products and can be used on their products, packaging, marketing and retail environments.
 
“For more than a century, UL has provided safety services to GE Appliances,” said Todd Denison, UL’s vice president and general manager for appliances, HVAC and lighting. “With the IoT Security Rating engagement, we have extended our support to GE Appliances in cyber security while contributing to their goal to prioritise consumer security for their smart products in the marketplace.”
 
As part of UL’s IoT Security Rating, products are assessed according to their implementation of vital baseline security capabilities. Those security capabilities are aligned with global industry frameworks and best practices, such as from Nist, Etsi and CSDE.
 
UL’s IoT Security Rating also helps demonstrate security compliance for meeting the threshold of reasonable security features, as required of manufacturers in the first legally binding regulations for consumer IoT in the California and Oregon cyber-security bills that went into effect this month.
 
“At GE Appliances, we are committed to ensuring the security of our connected appliances and protecting consumers’ data,” said Shawn Stover, vice president, at GE Appliances. ‘We incorporate sound security principles into our product development process, conduct security vulnerability testing and encourage security researchers to provide us with feedback. With the ever-changing cyber-security threat landscape, we believe the added third-party assurance and our commitment to UL’s IoT Security Rating throughout the product lifecycle helps GE Appliances continue to put our customer’s peace of mind first while protecting against security threats.”
 
The IoT Security Rating joins a growing list of UL IoT security offerings, including the a cyber-security assurance programme, IEC 62443 certification, and security training and advisory services, that address security needs across IoT industries and ecosystems.