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The Internet of Things is connecting more and more devices. We’re heading to a seamlessly connected world that will have 24 billion IoT devices by 2020. Connected devices are making headway into each and every aspect of our lives, including homes, offices, cars and even cities.
With the phenomenal growth of IoT and Big Data Analytics Solutions, data is traveling rapidly to your network from devices outside your network. This increased connectivity now assures we are able to do things like never before. However, with this connectivity there comes a flipside. Some of these devices will originate from locations which are not secured. IoT is becoming an attractive and easy target for cybercriminals.
In contrast to human-controlled devices, IoT devices are always connected and functioning. IoT devices go through one-time authentication which makes them vulnerable to infiltration and nefarious attacks. Each type of IoT device might be vulnerable to different kinds of attacks, most not yet invented. The devices themselves have different levels of security, and some might have no security at all. Therefore, strong security mechanism needs to be implemented on these gateways to improve the overall security of the system.
According to Gartner, spending on IoT security is poised to reach $547 million in 2018. Gartner also predicts that by 2020 over 25% of identified enterprise security breaches will arise out of Internet of Things. Several IoT devices, such as home automation tools, medical devices, infrastructure systems, smart meters, and appliances have inadequate security mechanisms.
In the wake of massive data breaches and data theft reported, effort needs to be made to secure IoT-related data to ensure the privacy of consumers and the functionality of businesses and corporations.
What opportunities does IoT offer?
IoT is leading change and it’s fast becoming the core element of business technology.
Some of the primary forces driving the adoption of IoT are:
Creating Business Opportunities: The connected world of devices, people and data helps create numerous business opportunities for many sectors. Organizations leverage IoT to gain insights into customers’ requirements.
Business Revenue Growth: There are multitude of opportunities that enhance business growth and economic opportunity by finding creative ways to deploy IoT technology to drive revenue growth through expense reduction and asset productivity.
Strategic Decision-Making: Real-time updates offer resources to improve decision making and make more accurate fact finding.
Reduction in costs of Components: Costs of IoT components have significantly gone done, which effectively mean that the cost of IoT-linked devices is getting more affordable day by day.
Safety and Security: With the help of cameras, smart locks and sensors, there is increased the possibility to avoid physical threats, which might occur at the workplace or home.
IoT Security: Eliminating Bottlenecks
Several Internet of Things (IoT) Companies are trying to eliminate security challenges. Here are the challenges faced:
Protecting More and More Devices
Internet of Things ecosystem is growing at a rapid pace. Research has indicated that several IoT device manufacturers and service providers don’t implement common security measures. As a result, an IoT device which was safe when you bought can become a target for nefarious activities as hackers discover new vulnerabilities.
Information overload is increasing the number of devices behind network’s firewall. Now it is not just about protecting our computers, laptops or smartphones. It is about worrying to protect our protecting our cars, our home appliances, wearables, and several IoT devices. Ultimately, the IoT is turning into a complex maze.
In a frenzy to launch new products and services, many companies often overlook long-term support. As a result, we always end up with millions of insecure computers and mobile devices. Some devices are too old for most companies and the situation is bound to become even worse with disposable IoT devices.
Here are steps to improve IoT Security:
IoT Network Security
IoT network security is a daunting task compared to traditional network security. There are several communication protocols, standards, and device functionalities when combined together poise significant issues and complexity.
IoT Authentication
Allowing users to authenticate IoT device right from managing multiple users of a single device, ranging from simple static password/pins to authentication mechanisms.
Encrypt Everything
IoT will continue to provide omnipresence experience in smart, connected devices. It is practically impossible to assess the credibility of each and every device that might originate or stored on firewall networks. In such cases, the only solution is to ensure that data is encrypted. This effectively means only users with authentication credentials or a pre-verified device will be able to access data encrypted.
IoT Security Analytics
IoT security analytics is all about collecting and assimilating data from IoT devices and providing an alert system on specific activities or when activities fall outside the realms of set policies and procedures. These solutions add a new perspective of machine learning, artificial intelligence, and big data techniques to provide a rather rigorous predictive modeling and anomaly detection. However, these capabilities are still gaining momentum. IoT security analytics allows detecting IoT-specific intrusions that are not identified by conventional network security solutions.
IoT API Security
Providing the ability to authenticate and authorize data movement between IoT devices, back-end systems, and applications using documented REST-based APIs. API security will protect the data transiting to ensure that only authentic devices, developers, and apps are communicating with APIs as well as detecting nefarious threats against APIs.
Conclusion: IoT is becoming a significant part of our lives, and its security is one of the major issues that must be addressed with the effective participation of the entire global tech community.
