What is IoT Security? IoT Security and Privacy Issues

Internet of Everything (IoT) has seen an upward explosion in the last few years. IoT devices, made of SCADA systems, home automation, and security camera, now make up to 30% of all devices on enterprise networks, and it is anticipated as of 2025, there will be around 27 billion linked IoT Devices. However, IoT devices are vulnerable to a wide range of threats and attacks, and the need for proper IoT security is more important than over.

Some of the challenges to IoT includes: Botnet attacks (injecting botnet software through an exposed port or phishing attacks), DNS vulnerabilities, ransomware, physical security, Man-in-the-Middle, default credentials, lack of data encryption, and vulnerable firmware.

The sectors that are most vulnerable to IoT security breaches include healthcare and wearable devices, industrial environments, and technologies using IIoT controllers. Some of the historical examples of large IoT security breaches include the 2010 Stuxnet – where the Iranian nuclear centrifuges were disabled by a computer worm targeting SCADA systems, the 2016 Mirai attack – where over 400K IoT devices were used used to take down French DNS provider DYN.

Currently, there’s no agreed industry standard for IoT security framework, and only in recent years has there been more governmental policy push for a centralization of IoT security practices. In December 2020, the U.S. president signed the Internet of Things Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2020, which calls government agencies strengthen the security of IoT and to establish minimum cybersecurity standards for IoT devices managed by the federal government.