The End of “Trust Me” Security: ABI Research Cautions IoT Security Is Becoming a Board-Level Governance Risk

The cybersecurity decisions organizations make about connected devices today could become the governance decisions they are forced to defend tomorrow. 

In a new whitepaper, Y27: The Governance Reckoning for IoT Security, global technology intelligence firm ABI Research finds that IoT cybersecurity is moving beyond technical best practice and becoming an issue of corporate governance, procurement accountability, and reasonable care. As U.S. federal policy, regulatory scrutiny, and enterprise risk management converge ahead of January 4, 2027, organizations will increasingly need documented, defensible evidence that connected devices meet recognized cybersecurity baselines.

The shift represents what ABI Research describes as the end of "trust me" security. For decades, organizations have relied on manufacturer claims, supplier assurances, contractual promises, and internal processes to establish trust in connected products. As regulatory and legal scrutiny increases, those assertions are giving way to a need for objective evidence that recognized security requirements have been met.

Y27 marks a turning point for connected device security as trust can no longer rest on vendor claims alone. For boards, CIOs, CISOs, and procurement leaders, the question is shifting from whether a breach can happen to whether the organization can demonstrate that it exercised reasonable care in selecting, deploying, and governing IoT devices.

ABI Research estimates there were 19 billion IoT connections globally in 2025, with that number forecast to grow to 37 billion by 2030. As the number of connections nearly doubles and connected devices proliferate across homes, workplaces, healthcare environments, schools, industrial sites, and public sector infrastructure, the expanding attack surface creates risks ranging from lateral movement and data compromise to service disruption, unauthorized surveillance, and broader network exposure.

The firm notes that the U.S. Cyber Trust Mark is significant not only as a consumer-facing label, but as an operational and evidentiary benchmark for organizations. With technical roots in National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) IoT cybersecurity guidance and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) oversight, the program establishes a measurable baseline that can help organizations evaluate connected devices and demonstrate due diligence.

This shift could also change how routine procurement decisions are viewed following a cybersecurity incident. Device selection criteria, vendor representations, security certifications, internal reviews, risk sign-offs, and lifecycle management policies are increasingly subject to scrutiny from regulators, insurers, auditors, and boards. ABI Research finds that the absence of documented security assurance could become a central consideration in determining whether an organization exercised reasonable care.

As the FCC-designated Lead Administrator for the U.S. Cyber Trust Mark program, ioXt is positioned to lead the program's national implementation, administration, and continued evolution. The organization works across the connected-device ecosystem to advance measurable, scalable cybersecurity assurance and help establish a market in which trust in connected products can be independently demonstrated.

The emergence of the U.S. Cyber Trust Mark is also helping elevate cybersecurity beyond an IT responsibility and into the realm of board-level governance. Organizations that cannot demonstrate appropriate security assurance for their connected infrastructure may face avoidable governance, operational, and legal risk.

ABI Research recommends that manufacturers begin evaluating product portfolios, certification readiness, testing requirements, and documentation; enterprises incorporate Cyber Trust Mark considerations into procurement, vendor due diligence, and cybersecurity risk assessments; and retailers prepare for cybersecurity assurance to play a greater role in product differentiation and consumer trust.

These findings are from ABI Research's Y27: The Governance Reckoning for IoT Security whitepaper, sponsored by ioXt.