Is IoT safe and secure to use? Let’s get our facts clear!
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The Internet of things has gained massive popularity due to its innumerable applications. Each and everything around today has been automated, may it be the smallest to smallest thing like LED to huge industrial machinery.
Why talk about industries, when we can find several appliances at our home being automated. TV, fridges, washing machine, digital assistant like Alexa, Google assistance, fan, tube lights, huh?!! You name a thing and it is automate.
Industries are using IoT so extensively that a different name is provide to it i.e IIoT(Industrial Internet Of Things) which includes industrial robotics, medical devices, software-based application, etc.
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With this extensive use of IoT, where billions and trillions of data is collect, where do you think information is stored?
Of course, it is store in the cloud. But is our information secure?? This is the main concern.
The answer to this question is “NO”. IoT was never design keeping Security in IoT in mind.
THE PERSONAL INFORMATION COLLECTED
We connect many devices at our home to make our living easier. For example,
Connecting our vehicle to the network, which means other people can also have the travel history of our vehicle. The smart devices used at home can also reveal much of our personal information. Attaching IoT to Health care devices can have access to one’s sensitive information.
however, This information being sensitive has no Security in IoT and reveals a lot of personal information which can be used for various unethical reasons.
though This way IoT vulnerabilities have been increasing day by day. In recent times, few of the vulnerabilities were expose
- Flaws in security cameras
- Vulnerable health care kits
- Smart home hacking
SECURITY CONCERNS IN IoT
SURVEILLANCE IN IoT
Smart techno goods aim to provide good surveillance and Security in IoT like security cameras. However, the internet of things can unnecessarily have surveillance on us through the network breach. This can help an unauthorized third party to have access to all our personal information.
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It is recommend by the companies to use a trusted branch and opt for high-end encryption and network security.
DDoS ATTACK
DDoS(Distributed Denial Of Service) attack is an internet attack that is target on a particular website to either take it down or slow it down by flooding the network server with fake traffic. The infected machines are the bots. DDoS attacks are possible when the attacker sends more requests than the server of the website can handle or the attacker can also send bogus requests to attack it. These attacks can cause huge financial loss.
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The best way to combat these kinds of attacks is to use a low-power wireless network. Since its low power, it only responds to sending and receiving data.
BYOD Security in IoT
BYOD(Bring Your Own Device) is a recent trend going on where employees of a company use their personal devices for work purposes. This can be a computer, laptop, smartphones, hard disk, etc. As the employees have the data of the company, it is likely to perform certain malpractices on those data.
Another risk of BYOD is employees carry their smartphones everywhere and there is a high risk of these devices with company data being stolen.
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Having a guest network for all these data will secure the data and make BYOD connectivity possible.
POOR AUTHENTICATION
IoT authentication is a model for building trust in IoT machinery and devices when it travels through an unsecured network like the internet. To avoid the intervention of a third party at least the password should be strong.
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Using a complex password and secured password recovery methods can maintain bolstering Security in IoT.
We are surrounded by IoT devices. Adoption of these technologies is growing day by day, with this growth, the attack on these platforms are also increasing. People are eager to jump into IoT and explore more, but often security issues are neglected.
Despite this risk, several global organizations continue to use IoT. According to the “2018 Global Threat Report”, nearly 71% of organizations are gathering data from IoT devices. Here organizations are encrypting the IoT data correctly can reduce the risk, increase security, and confidentiality of course having its challenges.
TRUSTING THE DEVICE
As security is not guaranteed in IoT, we need to have trust and integrity on the device. If we don’t trust the data collected by the device, there is no point in going through all this trouble.
To build the roof of trust, every IoT connected device must have “unique identification”. There are various methods like biometrics, a digital certificate to prove identity.
With trust, it is also required to have a place to secure the data which may be sensitive, personal information, etc indirectly pointing out the security of the device.
With all these threats, efforts are being made to improve security. Thankfully there are few potential solutions like two-factor authentication and deploying hardware and software requirements from trusted vendors.
Hope you enjoyed reading!!
Written By: Apeksha Bagrecha
Reviewed By: Vishal Rathod
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