If you look around, smart devices are literally everywhere.  From your smartphones, to connected home devices, connected office devices to the world of automobiles.  Moreover, moms are crowned as Household CEOs as household continues to rely on the emerging technology.

With all of the sophisticated and smart features of connected devices, how come security features of smart devices are not as smart as the device?  The negative side of these smart devices is their inability to discriminate between good and bad commands – they will have to perform whatever any human tells them to do, whether or not that human is their master.

“In many cases, the threats may be even more serious than vulnerabilities on traditional computers because people don’t understand what data is stored on them and is at risk,” says Kevin Brown, a Manager of testing at ICSA Labs.

“When it comes to usability versus security, usability tends to win out, and vendors enable functionality by default to ensure that you’re aware of it,” according to Michael Sutton, Vice President of security research at Zscaler ThreatLabZ,

Unfortunately, because of the tight competition, manufacturers give more emphasis on the “entertainment” feature of the device than the security features.  It’s opened a new world for scammers and cybercriminals, as well as an opportunity for security software makers to protect the latest technology frontier.

“Most devices target consumers, and their manufacturers are racing to compete with consumer-oriented features such as integration into social networking services, rather than security features,” says Tom Kemp, CEO of Centrify.

On the brighter side of the matter, these threats have been an opportunity for all the security providers.  They’ve been cracking their heads to come up with brilliant solutions to the ongoing threats on connected devices.  Investors see the opportunity as well, landing Lookout Mobile with a $40 million round last week.  Moreover, governments are now being more vigilant in battling the issues of hacking.  Rules and laws are being established and implemented to protect the interests of all consumers.

There’s a certain degree of necessity when it comes to legally addressing the matter of mobile security, as consumers aren’t always the most proactive when it comes to protecting their devices.  In fact, many consider mobile security a matter for their carrier and/or manufacturer to deal with, according to a survey from AdaptiveBlue.  Others consumers still think security is too expensive.

That leaves a pretty big gap between existing security offerings and consumer awareness, and many security companies know this.  Consumer education for companies like Norton is extremely important as we enter a new era of mobile security needs, and as established companies like Symantec look to mobile as the next customer base to tackle, others like Lookout have created a new product from scratch to endure the demands of mobile’s new world.  As the smartphone scene continues to mature, so too will its security offerings, many working in the background leaving consumers to enjoy their smart devices without fear.