This era of internet of things (IoT) has made it possible for us to use technology in ways we never imagined before! As digitally connected devices encroach in all aspects of our lives, such as homes, offices, cars and other appliances, one cannot stop but think – do all these interconnected devices expose our personal and business information in some way? Data travelling through the cloud and via thousands of interconnected devices may have a weak link or some kind of exploitable vulnerability. The mobile world with interconnected devices is becoming a very attractive playground for hackers and cybercriminals.
Simple access and security are hence the two pillars that help these devices to easily connect and stay secure. Gartner predicts that by 2020, there will be over 40 billion IoT devices and the physical world will effectively become one big information system. This is exactly why security is of utmost importance in the mobile and IoT world.
- The previously ignored security is now becoming a concern, as IoT devices are always connected and always on. They go through a onetime authentication process and are perfect sources for infiltration. So, gateways to business networks need to be secured tightly.
- The huge repositories where IoT data is stored can become a very attractive target for cybercriminals.
- The devices too need to be updated regularly with security updates.
- In fact, it should be made mandatory that these devices meet a certain security standard before they can be made ‘live’.
- Secure frameworks must be used to integrate IoT and then build the rest of the network upon that. Well, security should never be an afterthought.
- The Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend will need to be monitored as it connects your staff member’s smartphones to the corporate network and their home networks and other personal-connected devices such as car or fridge.
With the unbelievable number of connected devices – and the predicted numbers for the future, we will definitely have to deal with mind boggling amounts of data too – and develop security standards while dealing various types of data. Technology experts need to be mindful during the process of implementation and inculcate security right from step one rather than fixing things after they go wrong. Security best practices to ensure integrity, confidentiality and availability of existing and emerging devices will definitely be a top priority while implementing any IoT network!
