Operators running M2M connections will need to support and manage a multi-vendor ecosystem.

Lightweight encryption is necessary for low-bandwidth devices and networks.

Wittfeldt favors AES (advanced encryption standard) encryption for M2M security. "It can be implemented in most resource-constrained environments," he says.

"AES 256 is very unlikely to be cracked in our lifetime," the Telenor cloud creator said, adding that it is less resource-hungry than the RSA equivalent.

Wittfeldt suggests that the "relaxed approach" the industry has taken to M2M so far has helped it grow. Now, he believes, is the time to tighten up security as M2M starts to enable the Internet of Things. (See Does M2M Need LTE?)

— Dan Jones, Mobile Editor, Light Reading