Wearable technology is taking flight, and it's hard to get through a day of news without hearing of yet another startup or big tech company debuting or prepping the next great wearable.
The devices are moving fast -- not only off the shelves to consumers but on the human body, from the wrist to clothing to possibly ears and noses in a short time.
But wherever they land, there's one common element of concern and that's the security aspect, as wearable technology is still in its infancy.
"Widespread adoption of wearables is bound to create a new batch of security headaches," Hormazd Romer, head of product marketing at Accellion, told Tech Times in an email interview.
"However, the biggest risk to consumer privacy comes from the technology's business applications, especially in the industries responsible for managing and protecting our most sensitive personal data," adds Romer. Accellion is a creator of enterprise software for mobile and is already creating security tools for wearable devices.
A big issue with wearables, say experts, is that users don't yet realize how valuable the data is that's being collected. Consumers tend to just think about things like credit cards and Social Security numbers with technology security. However health-related data is just as personal and requires protection and is quickly becoming a target for hackers.
As Romer notes, the hope is that as wearables develop and become more mature, so will the needed security. At some point wearables may even birth needed security tools, possibly acting as an authentication agent for access to computers and other mobile devices. But we're far from that scenario, Romer notes.
"In the health care sector in particular, there is a very small threshold for acceptable risk when it comes to deploying new technologies," says Romer. "In other words, until we overcome current security challenges, we can't even begin to consider potential benefits. In the future, it is likely that wearable devices will have a role to play in both enterprise and personal security, however it is still to early to tell how these developments will manifest."
