How to Ensure IoT Cybersecurity

Posted by Piyush Jain

Today, the IoT devices are largely used by industries and households, smart bulbs can adjust the intensity of light by themselves, doctors can check the patient data remotely, IoT sensors can help in warehousing, and more, the potential is seemingly endless. There are billions of IoT devices on the field and billions more are expected in the next few years. The data that IoT devices produce are stored on the cloud, for example, a health monitor collects all the information about our health and stores it on the cloud. This information is further analyzed to provide us better services, but on the other hand if someone manages to get the data they can violate our privacy. Thus it is important to ensure the confidentiality and integrity of IoT solutions while mitigating the cybersecurity risks. There are many ways attackers can make their way into your system.

Most common IoT cyber attacks are:

Botnets

A botnet is a network of systems combined to remotely take control of distributing malware, controlled by botnet operators via Command-and-Control-Servers (C&C servers). They are used by attackers on a large scale for many things such as stealing private information, exploiting online banking data or spam, and phishing emails.

Man-in-the-middle

The man-in-the-middle concept is where an attacker is looking to interrupt and breach communication between two separate systems. It can be a dangerous attack because it is one where the attacker secretly intercepts and transmits messages between two parties when they are under the belief that they are communicating directly with each other.

Identity Theft

The main strategy of identity theft is to amass data, and with a little bit of patience, a lot of information can be fetched out. Generally, data is available on the internet, combined with social media information and data from smartwatches, fitness trackers, smart meters, smart fridges, and more. These data give a great all-around idea of your identity.

Recent research indicates that 85% of customers lack confidence in IoT device security, it is important to ensure the security of IoT devices by eliminating the IoT cybersecurity risk. 

Here are some best practices to ensure IoT cybersecurity:

Secure Boot

The secure boot helps a system to stop attacks and infections from malware, it is a feature embedded with IoT devices to detect tampering with the system. It works like a security gate as it restricts unauthorized access by validating the digital signature, detections are blocked from running before they attack the system. Deploying secure boot in the IoT ecosystem is important to ensure cybersecurity.

Secured passwords with two-factor authentication

You can activate two-factor authentication on almost any IoT device, it is important because it ensures authorized access to devices and automates trust into the system. Having two-factor authentication enabled with unusual passwords keeps IoT devices secure from being vulnerable to cyber attacks, it restricts attackers from making their way into the system.

Disabling the UPnP feature

UPnP feature allows an IoT device to get connected with other IoT devices, for example, smart bulbs can be paired with Google Home to turn it off or on via voice command. It is a feature that is convenient for users but poses cybersecurity risks at the same time. If hackers manage to make their way in one device they will easily be able to find another device that is connected. We can easily disable the UPnP feature as most of the IoT devices allow you to disable the UPnP feature from their settings.

Secure data storage

Keeping data in a large enterprise system is secured but the flash storage of a particular embedded device holds some important data from time to time that is not immediately secured or encrypted which can open you up to cybersecurity risk. Thus it is important to have system-level encryption of data for storage of sensitive information. If we do not encrypt the flash storage on the embedded device, someone can easily have their peak at your data.

Bottom Line

Securing IoT devices from cyberattacks is important for households and it is equally important for industries to ensure the confidentiality and integrity of their IoT devices and data produced by IoT devices. Researchers find that data breaches linked to IoT devices have increased rapidly in the past few years, according to a study by Ponemon, the number of cyberattacks due to unsecured connected devices have increased from 15% to 25% in the last two years. Thus securing the IoT devices can never be downplayed.

Author Bio- 

Piyush Jain is the founder and CEO of Simpalm, an app development company in Virginia. Piyush founded Simpalm in 2009 and has grown it to be a leading mobile and web development company in the DMV area. With a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins and a strong background in technology and entrepreneurship, he understands how to solve problems using technology. Under his leadership, Simpalm has delivered 300+ mobile apps and web solutions to clients in startups, enterprises and the federal sector.