The number of connected devices in the world already exceeds the number of people. And in the next half a decade, billions more devices will be coming online. The Internet of Things (IoT) has enormous potential to provide benefits across an extraordinarily diverse range of sectors including health care, vehicle and highway safety, manufacturing, shipping, power distribution, aviation, sports, entertainment, and environmental monitoring.

But the growth in connected devices is also bringing new challenges. There are new cybersecurity exposures arising as connectivity outpaces security. The potential for IoT devices to collect, analyze, and disseminate enormous amounts of data can lead to many benefits, but it also can create new privacy exposures. And the placement of an increasing amount of functionality at endpoints requires rethinking legacy approaches to system architecture.

I have been working on the IoT since the 1990s – though back then we called it “wireless mobile networking.” Today, I am interested a broad range of issues related to the IoT, including design of IoT devices, analytics for data from IoT sensors, cybersecurity, privacy, and the reliability and security of the IoT supply chain.

Broader Interest Articles and Commentary

John Villasenor, “How the White House’s AI Executive Order could increase U.S. cyber vulnerabilities,The Brookings Institution, November 22, 2023

John Villasenor, “The problems with a moratorium on training large AI systems,The Brookings Institution, April 11, 2023

John Villasenor, “Regulating AI: Four key questions to ask,Fortune, via The Conversation, April 3, 2023

John Villasenor, “How a global website outage underscores the importance of creating a more robust internet,The Brookings Institution, June 10, 2021

John Villasenor, “Reining in overly broad interpretations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act,The Brookings Institution, June 7, 2021

John Villasenor, “No, the Laws of Australia Don’t Override the Laws of Mathematics,Lawfare / The Brookings Institution, July 17, 2017

John Villasenor, “Brookings roundtable readout: Advancing cybersecurity and inclusivity within the global financial ecosystem,The Brookings Institution, April 19, 2017

John Villasenor, “Ensuring Cybersecurity In Fintech: Key Trends And Solutions,Forbes, August 25, 2016

John Villasenor, “5 keys to ensure that the IoT is an Internet of secure things,Forbes Mexico, May 10, 2016 (in Spanish)

John Villasenor, “Five Lessons On The ‘Security Of Things’ From The Jeep Cherokee Hack,Forbes, July 27, 2015

John Villasenor and Mohammad Tehranipoor, “The Hidden Dangers of Chop-Shop Electronics: Clever counterfeiters sell old components as new, threatening both military and commercial systems,IEEE Spectrum, September 20, 2013

John Villasenor, “‘Drones’ and the Future of Domestic Aviation,Proceedings of the IEEE, March 2014

John Villasenor, “No-Fly Zone: How “drone” safety rules can also help protect privacy,Slate, May 2, 2013

John Villasenor, “Will “Drones” Outflank the Fourth Amendment?,Forbes, September 20, 2012

Law Review Article

John Villasenor, “Observations from Above: Unmanned Aircraft Systems and PrivacyHarvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, Spring, 2013

Congressional Testimony

John Villasenor, “The Disrupter Series: The Fast-Evolving Uses and Economic Impacts of DronesTestimony before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce; Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade, November 19, 2015

John Villasenor, “Unmanned Aircraft Systems: Key Considerations Regarding Safety, Innovation, Economic Impact, and PrivacyTestimony before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation; Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety, and Security, March 24, 2015

John Villasenor, “Eyes in the Sky: The Domestic Use of Unmanned Aerial SystemsTestimony before the House Committee on the Judiciary; Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations, May 17, 2013

Policy Papers

John Villasenor, “Products Liability and Driverless Cars: Issues and Guiding Principles for LegislationThe Brookings Institution, April 2014

John Villasenor, “Compromised By Design? Securing the Defense Electronics Supply ChainThe Brookings Institution, November 2013

Technical Papers

Lok-Won Kim and John Villasenor, “Dynamic Function Verification for System-on-Chip Security against Hardware-Based Attacks,” IEEE Transactions on Reliability, Vol. 64, No. 4, pp. 1229-1242, November 2015.

Jerry Lien, Laura Hughes, Jorge Kina, and John Villasenor, “Mobile Money Solutions for a Smartphone-Dominated World,” Journal of Payments Strategy & Systems, Vol. 9, No. 3, pp. 341-350, Fall, 2015. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2632372

Lok-Won Kim and John Villasenor, “Dynamic Function Replacement for System-on-Chip Security in the Presence of Hardware-Based Attacks,” IEEE Transactions on Reliability, Vol. 63, No. 2, pp. 661-675, June 2014.

Lok-Won Kim, and John D. Villasenor, “A System-On-Chip Bus Architecture for Thwarting Integrated Circuit Trojan Horses,” IEEE Transactions on VLSI Systems, Vol. 19, No. 10, pp. 1921-1926, October 2011.

Lok-Won Kim, John D. Villasenor and Cetin K. Koc, “A Trojan-resistant system-on-chip bus architecture,” Proceedings of IEEE Military Communication (MILCOM) 2009, Boston, Oct. 2009.