At a recent panel discussion, EFF hits the nail on the head with the IoT and security. A quote from EFF's Nate Cardozo:
“If the data is there you’re going to have to protect it. One way of protecting it, of course, is to not collect it in the first place... That’s a great way of keeping all of that content secure.”
Mr. Cardozo's further discusses the security issues of industries who have never had to deal with security in the past, namely the medical device industry. There's genuine concern over securing data for connected devices, but perhaps a more urgent concern — especially for the medical device industry — is ransomware in IoT devices. It’s one thing to have your health data stolen, it’s another to have a connected pacemaker, for example, held for ransom.
Continuing with Mr. Cardozo’s comment on the benefits of a zero knowledge model, there are more than a few industries and devices that would benefit from non-connection solution until either 1) the industry becomes more security-savvy or 2) IoT security becomes standardized.