HomeERP NewsBuilding an IoT Immune System Building an IoT Immune System alex.chau@getreach.hk February 4, 2020 ERP News No Comments Sending User Review 0 (0 votes) Reducing the threat of attacks through IoT devices Building IoT Building IoT-Billions of moving parts constantly talking to one another; a living network open to foreign invaders and viruses, all connected to a supercomputer housing a wealth of information. I’m referring to the human body, although you’d be forgiven for seeing the obvious parallels with the Internet of Things (IoT).Luckily for us, our bodies house a millennia-old, tried-and-tested immune system to defend us against viruses, identify and destroy malicious intruders and keep us, for the most part, running smoothly. But the same can’t be said for the evolving world of IoT. And it is evolving – rapidly. Gartner predicts that the number of IoT devices is expected to triple from seven billion to 21.5 billion, with 25% of cyber attacks targeting the IoT by the year 2025. While these are staggering statistics, they shouldn’t come as a shock; cybercriminals are clever, careful and considered, and as such will identify and target any obvious vulnerabilities before them. In its current state then, the IoT may as well have a target painted on its back. The IoT blindspot Currently, many IoT devices are a security blindspot. Cheaper devices aren’t built to withstand attackers nor protect the information they house, yet we’re increasingly owning more of them every day. As every new device joins the network, so too comes another potential vulnerability. Take IP security cameras for example. Many organisations house these for security, sitting on their corporate network. Because it shares that network, if an employee in a separate department has their machine infected with malware, any criminal intruders will be able to scan the network for connected devices, find the camera, and suddenly have eyes in your organisation – a frightening and potentially damaging prospect. This is just one example of the vulnerabilities, but with so many IoT devices providing audio and visual feeds, as well as access to sensitive information, it’s not difficult to imagine similar attacks. In fact, some of these attacks have already happened. Take the Mirai botnet, which in 2016 targeted smart home devices, in particular IP cameras and basic wireless routers. The botnet was utilised in some of the most disruptive DDoS attacks to date, including an attack on French web host OVH, and the Dyn cyber attack, which resulted in the inaccessibility of numerous high-profile websites, such as Twitter, Netflix and Airbnb. Read More Here Article Credit: TR. Share this: Tweet Pin It Related Posts How cloud technology will change the workplace (again) ERP Feature News: Pre-Staging Why Small and Medium-Sized Businesses Should Utilize an ERP System About The Author alex.chau@getreach.hk
