In an Internet of Things world, humans assist machines.

• Position: INTERNET OF THINGS

During the past two years, the number of Internet of Things (IoT) devices in the world has skyrocketed almost 70% to 6.4 billion, according to research firm Gartner. By 2020, Gartner predicts, the IoT population will hit 20.8 billion. IoT fans say the technology will enable people and systems to live and work smarter, easier, and more efficiently. But critics worry that such networked technologies will be easy prey for hackers. Just like they do for their computers or smartphones, consumers certainly will need to adopt safety precautions for their Internet-connected home appliances, experts say.

"If we want to put networked technologies into more and more things, we also have to find a way to make them safer," Michael Walker, a computer security expert at the Pentagon told the New York Times. "It's a challenge for civilization."

Researchers for Level 3 Communications recently announced they had detected several strains of malware that launched attacks on websites from compromised loT devices, the Times reported. The researchers, working with Flashpoint, an Internet risk management firm, found that as many as one million devices, mainly security cameras and video recorders, had been equipped for botnet attacks. They said the discovery marked a "a drastic shift": loT devices are now being used as hosts for attacks instead of traditional hosts, such as hijacked data center computers and computer routers in homes.

Late last year, researchers at Akamai Technologies said they detected hackers commandeering as many as...