Privacy Challenges in IoT: Assessing Data Protection Risks and Strategies for Secure User Adoption
1 University at Albany, State Univ. Of New York.
2 Department of Telecommunication Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana.
Review
International Journal of Frontline Research in Engineering and Technology, 2025, 04(01), 009-016.
Article DOI: 10.56355/ijfret.2025.4.1.0027
Publication history:
Received on 07 September 2025; revised on 22 October 2025; accepted on 25 October 2025
Abstract:
The integration of the Internet of Things (IoT) into everyday life from connected appliances, smart wearables, to smart city infrastructure, generates an influx of personal and behavioral data. Although these technologies have the potential to enable efficient, personalized and thriving economies, they in turn raise challenging privacy issues that threaten user trust and inhibit long-term adoption. In the United States, the rapid pace of IOT innovation has exceeded the development of standard privacy protections, leaving a disintegration of technical defenses, corporate practices, and regulatory guidance. Analysis indicates that numerous IoT products entering the U.S. market embed broad data collection capabilities into their core functionality, often operating in ways that exceed the scope disclosed to end users. Controls for restricting or limiting such data flows are often hidden within complex settings or completely absent, while software maintenance practices leave known vulnerabilities unaddressed for extended periods for low-cost devices. This environment is reinforced by an uneven regulatory landscape in which manufacturers are not faced with unified national requirements for privacy-by-design or security hardening. Hence, this paper critically examines analysis of these privacy issues by analyzing the regulatory gaps, technical deficiencies and user-facing constraints that are driving IoT proliferation in the United States. It also discusses ways in which secure user adoption can be encouraged, ranging from technical protections to regulatory reforms and consumer empowerment, to highlight the pathways through which IoT can achieve its transformative potential without sacrificing user confidence or fundamental rights.
Keywords:
Internet Of Things (Iot); Privacy Challenges; Data Protection; User Trust; Secure Adoption
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Copyright © 2025 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Liscense 4.0