As smart-technology further develops, so does IoT (Internet of Things), promising benefits to both individuals and businesses. However, having interconnected devices through a network exchanging sensitive information brings its own set of problems. Keeping yourself protected can help prevent attacks from compromising your information.
Benefits of IoT
Though threats are a valid concern, there are a plethora of benefits having IoT devices in your workplace. It allows your company to stay up to date on what happens in the security world, and moves with the changing environment. Cybersecurity tech has promoted brands to amp up products security features, so that consumers can feel secure using them.
5G is an exciting in-progress development, and can encourage more renewable resources of energy, such as solar panels, or even remove the need to have Wi-Fi routers inside homes. 5G network speeds are set to improve bandwidth, and increase the efficiency of machine-to-machine communication.
How is IoT Security at Risk?
It’s said that there are two sides to every story, and the same goes with security. In a traditional security system, viruses and malware are the primary forms of cyber attacks. On the other side, in IoT the threat comes from device theft and manipulation, identity theft, and fraud. Data can be stolen through a connected network, resulting in piracy. Identity theft results in false authentication of a user, or faking device credentials. Manipulation can cause data from servers to be compromised, even forcing the entire system to crash.
Companies can focus on being aware of these threats, but if they implement BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) for employees, it can cause another major concern. Smartwatches, health trackers, or other personal devices are brought into the network. By connecting these personal devices, hackers can enter through them, and take advantage of scanning for other vulnerabilities.
Strengthening Your IoT Security
Being knowledgeable in – and staying aware of – these security risks enables a safeguard to be put in place and create preventive measures. Data encryption allows devices to be authenticated before transmission. This means data is deciphered from its original form, so it becomes inaccessible to hackers. A second defense perimeter should be established on the cloud – a major traffic path – as to provide another layer of security. For personal devices, companies should set up a separate network from its operations that devices can connect to.
Having an incident response plan in place can help to stop an attack before it happens. Oftentimes, hackers leave tracks when studying a network’s infrastructure. When this is identified, it’s recommended to reach out to IT to monitor and enhance defense security. If an attack has already happened, then the Industrial Internet Consortium recommends turning off services and reverting changes, and updating security policies on devices.
AvantGuard offers IoT monitoring, helping to keep your system secure. A culture of security awareness can keep individual and company assets safe. This becomes a shared responsibility between enterprises and employees, implementing security integration and policies as IoT continues to expand.