Six Challenges of Securing IoT
We’re either on our mobile devices or on our laptops or watching our smart TVs, waiting for our smart microwave to finish popping our smartly packaged popcorn kernels. In our cities, intelligent streetlights, traffic lights, and smart cars guide our travels.
While these systems are making our better lives possible, their inherent vulnerabilities are opening us up to cyberattacks. While an attack against an IT system can bring data loss and privacy concerns, an IoT attack can endanger life and safety.
Security is paramount, but first, you have to overcome these challenges.
Connectivity is ubiquitous. A smart home system could include everything from locks and thermostats to coffee makers and ovens. Offices are similarly plugged in with myriad devices included in their comprehensive building management systems.
The problem is that so many devices are connected that we’re at the point where the volume is overwhelming, that we may not even know what is connected where. We are simply unable to effectively manage the inventory of all of these devices. Even devices that don’t appear connected, like a washing machine, could be sending data to its manufacturer, piggybacking on your home network.
Being able to discover connected devices is critical for protection.
Although systems on chips are increasingly more powerful, they are highly specialized to fulfill specific tasks. For example, a window open-close sensor has been designed to have a very small footprint and is excellent at its job of informing us if our home or office has been breached. Unfortunately, the device itself is generally not designed to ensure its own security. They generally don’t have the computing, memory, or power capabilities necessary.
Strengthening security requires easy-to-install, resource-efficient software within the device’s operating system itself.
Less than a decade ago, the tendency was that most of the devices within a home management or security system were single-vendor, proprietary systems that connected only to each other and the monitoring network. Now, one environment can include devices from tens of manufacturers – who each have proprietary operating systems and no easy way to protect the entire infrastructure. Think of a home network that simultaneously connects an alarm system, a Nest thermostat, Google or Amazon voice assistants, IP cameras from one or more vendors plus an ever-increasing variety of white goods and home entertainment systems.
