Are You Real? Bringing Authentication to IoT

Posted by David Oro

Serial entrepreneur Chris Ciabarra is at it again. The co-founder and CTO of Revel Systems, an iPad point-of-sale (POS) disruptor which has a valuation of more than $500 million and landed a global contract to replace all of Shell Oil’s PoS terminals with Revel’s, has helped launch Authenticated Reality, an authenticated secure community that fosters real interactions, comments and online conversations from real people on the internet.

Chris is an anti-hacker and data security expert with a strong background in PCI compliance and P2PE. He has presented across the globe as well as in front of the 5th Annual United States Homeland Security Conference on various security topics including how the Internet needs to change.

While his current company is aimed at getting consumers and business to identify themselves as “real,” we couldn’t help but ask him about what his current endeavor might mean for IoT.

What is Authenticated Reality?

Authenticated Reality is a secure community of users and devices. In order to be accepted into the secure community you must authenticate yourself. With all users authenticated this will keep the online community safe from hackers that often hide behind anonymity .  

You talk a lot about this concept of “The New Internet”. What do you mean by it?  

The New Internet is a secure community of users that connect and see each other's real identity while interacting. The biggest problem we face on the internet today stems from a lack of identification. This problem is widespread across multiple verticals when you look at what is wrong with the current internet. For example, IMDB.com recently disabled their movie boards where fans would comment and engage with other movie fanatics. Why would IMDB.com disable something so popular that millions of their users were actively engaging in? Because they felt it was not longer fostering a positive environment for their millions of users. Too much hatred and spamming from online trolls that hide behind a pseudonym and a computer screen. On The New Internet this hatred and spamming would for the most part go away because once you remove the anonymity, users are going to be much more positive if their comments and interactions will reflect on their reputation that is attached to their real name and identity. On The New Internet you can comment on every single page of the old internet but with your reputation on the line, you will be less likely to post something fictitious or negative.

Tell us how your technology works.

Just download the browser and you will get a sidebar to comment and rate every page on old and New Internet. On The New Internet there will be domains that have never before existed on the old Internet and you will be able to comment and rate those pages as well. Users can purchase any domain name they would like even if it is not available on the old Internet.

As our publication name suggests, we focus on the Internet of Things, specifically the Industrial IoT. How do you plan to roll your product out for IoT devices? Can you provide examples?  

On The New Internet every device will be attached to an authenticated user. This is particularly useful for drones and identifying the owner of the device. We will be able to monitor all IoT devices and if it is acting suspicious we can turn it off the network for further investigation.  

We’ve written about Bruce Schneier and his calls for government regulation to address security issues in the IoT. A part of your offering includes a solution for governments. What’s your take on regulation and where do you see Authenticated Reality playing a role?  

We would like to authenticate all users, entities and devices to enable a safe internet experience.

Do you see any authentication solutions in IoT at this time?  And at what point in the future do you think an IoT solution from Authenticated Reality will be available?   

Yes we have patented a IOT security device that we will release in a few months time that will allow IOT devices to get secured. This IOT security device will have a WiFi access point on it that IOT devices attach and register to and the device will keep them secure.

Anything else you’d like to add?

The New Internet is here and if you had the vision back in 80’s to take advantage of the old internet  you would be rich, now is your chance to have the vision and join the new internet early on.  Join at http://thenewinternet.com

Photo of and credit: Chris Ciabarra