Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment her Department has made of the (a) potential impact of the use of Cellular Internet of Things modules in consumer products, including internet-connected vaping devices, on national security and (b) risk of interception, unauthorised access and transfer of data transmitted by such devices.

Consumer connected devices fall within scope of the Product Security and Telecommunications Act 2022 and must comply with the requirements of that Act and its underlying Regulations. This includes consumer devices that use cellular internet of things modules and the use of internet-connected vaping devices.

Consumer connected devices, by their nature as consumer goods, would not typically pose a national security threat. Our assessment is that a compromised cellular internet of things module would not, by itself, enable an end-to-end attack. From a cyber security perspective, risk is managed through the broader set of controls supporting monitoring, resilience and recovery across the system. Advice on managing the security of cellular internet of things modules technology is provided to industry and government by the National Cyber Security Centre.