California Passes Law to Ban Weak Defaults Passwords For IoT Devices

Taking into account the overall weak security of smart devices and the proliferation of such devices, the state of California has now passed a law banning weak default passwords. Starting 2020, manufacturers of smart devices will be required to ensure each device has a unique password and not something like admin or 1234.

The bill signed by Governor Jerry Brown highlights the need for stronger security for connected devices. This is because such devices are expected to increase in number significantly and Gartner predicts 20.4 billion devices globally by 2020.