UL Announces GE Appliances as First Household Appliance Brand to Test Connected Consumer Devices with New IoT Security Rating

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UL, a leading global safety science company, today announced at CES that GE Appliances is the world's first household appliance brand to test its connected products against UL's IoT Security Rating assessment.

The IoT Security Rating is a security verification and labeling solution for consumer Internet of Things (IoT) products. UL's solution aims to help manufacturers and developers demonstrate the security due diligence of their products by leveraging proven security best practices and rating the security posture of IoT products. This helps to improve the transparency of security with consumers and to assist them in making conscious and informed purchasing decisions.

As part of an ongoing engagement, UL is testing and assessing all connected products on the GE Appliances IoT security platform, including dishwashers, washers, dryers, refrigerators, ovens, water heaters and water softeners to help demonstrate baseline security capabilities and protection of their consumer's data at the appliance, on the GE Appliances mobile app and in the cloud.

The IoT Security Rating categorizes products according to an ascending five-level scale: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and Diamond. Verified products receive a differentiated UL Verified Mark security label – specifying the achieved security level – and are evaluated on an ongoing basis by UL. The unique UL Verified Mark code can be accessed on the UL Verify website. The achieved UL Verified Mark can serve as a competitive differentiator for manufacturer's products and can be used on their products, packaging, marketing and retail environments. 

As part of UL's IoT Security Rating, products are assessed according to their implementation of vital baseline security capabilities. Those security capabilities are aligned with global industry frameworks and best practices, such as the National Institute of Standards and Technology: Core Cybersecurity Feature Baseline for Securable IoT Devices; A Starting Point for IoT Device Manufacturers (draft NISTIR 8259), European Telecommunications Standards Institute: Cyber Security for Consumer Internet of Things (ETSI TS 103 645) and Council to Secure the Digital Economy: C2 Consensus on IoT Device Baseline Security (CSDE C2 Consensus).

UL's IoT Security Rating also helps demonstrate security compliance for meeting the threshold of reasonable security features, as required of manufacturers in the first legally binding regulations for consumer IoT in the California and Oregon Cybersecurity Bills that went into effect January 1. 

"For more than a century, UL has provided safety services to GE Appliances," said Todd Denison, UL's vice president and general manager for Appliances, HVAC and Lighting. "With the IoT Security Rating engagement, we have extended our support to GE Appliances in cybersecurity while contributing to their goal to prioritize consumer security for their smart products in the marketplace."

"At GE Appliances, we are committed to ensuring the security of our connected appliances and protecting consumers' data. We incorporate sound security principles into our product development process, conduct security vulnerability testing and encourage security researchers to provide us with feedback," said Shawn Stover, vice president, Smart Home Solutions, GE Appliances. "With the everchanging cybersecurity threat landscape, we believe the added third-party assurance and our commitment to UL's IoT Security Rating throughout the product lifecycle, helps GE Appliances continue to put our customer's peace of mind first while protecting against security threats."

The IoT Security Rating joins a growing list of UL IoT security solutions, including the UL Cybersecurity Assurance Program, IEC 62443 certification and security training and advisory services, that address security needs across IoT industries and ecosystems.

For a briefing on UL's IoT Security Rating at CES, please visit UL's booth #43537, located at the Sands Expo, or to learn more, please visit: ims.ul.com/IoT-security-rating.