The United States’ White House has launched a cybersecurity label, dubbed the “US Cyber Trust Mark,” for internet-connected devices.

The new cybersecurity label aims to help consumers know how products rate against security criteria established by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology, and provide citizens with a better understanding of how cyber-secure the items they bring into their homes are.

The bipartisan effort has been undertaken amid worries among the American public regarding the security of smart devices—which include the likes of light bulbs to baby monitors. DIGIT recently reported on findings that during the first half of last year, Internet of Things (IoT)-based threats dramatically rose, seeing a 107% rise in attacks, according to SonicWall.

The hope is that the new, voluntary cybersecurity labelling programme will not only help to educate and inform consumers across the country, but also incentivise technology and electronics companies to produce devices that are more cyber-secure—similar to what “Energy Star” labels for appliances have done regarding energy efficiency.

Speaking on the initiative, Justin Brookman, who serves as director of technology policy at nonprofit consumer organisation Consumer Reports, said: “Consumer Reports is eager to see this program deliver a meaningful U.S. Cyber Trust Mark that lets consumers know their connected devices meet fundamental cybersecurity standards.

“The mark will also inform consumers whether or not a company plans to stand behind the product with software updates and for how long. While voluntary, Consumer Reports hopes that manufacturers will apply for this mark, and that consumers will look for it when it becomes available.”

Amazon vice president Steve Downer also noted the Big Tech company’s backing for the new approach, stating: “Amazon supports the U.S. Cyber Trust Mark’s goal to strengthen consumer trust in connected devices.

“We believe consumers will value seeing the U.S. Cyber Trust Mark both on product packaging and while shopping online. We look forward to collaborating with industry partners and the government on consumer education efforts and implementation strategies.”

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The White House’s rollout of the label comes months after Sunak’s UK Government introduced laws for internet-connected smart devices to meet minimum-security standards.

The April 2024 laws established that manufacturers are banned from having weak, easily-guessable default passwords, like “admin” or “12345,” and that if there’s a common password, the user will be prompted to change it on start-up.

An investigation conducted by Which? showed that a home with smart devices could be exposed to more than 12,000 hacking attacks in a single week, with a total of 2,684 attempts to guess weak default passwords on just five devices.