There has been a lot of talk in recent years about the Internet of Things (IoT). The IoT encompasses the literal billions of physical devices in use throughout the world that connect to the Internet. Some of these devices are tiny, while others are huge, but they all have the capability to collect and share data in real-time.

How It Works

Almost any physical object can act as an IoT device. All product designers need to do is create a device that collects or communicates information, then use services like those available at particle.io to connect it to the Internet. This allows the device to be controlled from anywhere by smartphone app or by computer.

Common Examples of IoT Devices

IoT devices are very diverse. They can be children’s toys or driverless trucks, and some larger objects are actually filled with smaller IoT components, such as an engine outfitted with many tiny sensors outfitted to transmit data back to an operating hub. Some of the most common examples of IoT devices include:

• Smart home technologies
• Wearable devices
• Connected cars
• Security systems
• And even smart cities

As a general rule, the term IoT is usually reserved for those devices that would not have been expected to feature Internet connectivity until recently. That means things like desktop and laptop computers, smartphones, and tablets are not a part of the Internet of Things.

The Role of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

AI plays an important role in the emerging IoT. It can be used to interpret the data collected and transmitted by devices used in the physical world. Industries as diverse as agriculture and healthcare use AI to analyze data collected from Internet-connected sensors, objects, and devices.

The benefit of using AI to monitor and control certain elements of the IoT is that computers equipped with artificial intelligence can process information much faster than humans. Machine learning allows AI programs to automatically identify patterns, detect anomalies, and process data sets that would otherwise be far too large to understand. Humans can then use these AI-generated analyses to make more accurate assessments and predictions about their world.

Common Applications

This article has already discussed a few of the most common examples of IoT devices. Now, let’s take a look at their practical applications. Here are just a few of the ways that the IoT is changing daily life for consumers and businesses, alike:

• Home security cameras can now record and detect environmental changes, then alert homeowners via their smartphones.
• Elevator monitoring systems can track proper functioning and send the data to engineers so they can perform scheduled preventative maintenance before the elevators fail.
• Drivers can set their GPS systems to direct them to vacant parking spots in smart cities.
• Healthcare professionals can monitor multiple patients’ conditions remotely from one convenient location.
• Weather experts can now listen for earthquakes using IoT sensors and use associated AI programs to accurately determine risk.
• Farmers can use sensors to acquire data about soil and weather conditions and program their irrigation equipment to compensate for potential problems, increasing their yields.

These are just a few examples of how the IoT is changing the world. Consumers, commercial business owners, industrial manufacturers, and even farmers are now embracing the IoT and all it has to offer.

Benefits of Sharing Data between Connected Devices

One of the best things about the current and expected future proliferation of IoT tech is that it allows for increased data sharing between an ever-growing numbers of devices. This provides opportunities to increase the operational efficiency of businesses, get a better scientific understanding of physical and sociological conditions, and provide more contextualized and responsive interactions with connected devices. Everyone benefits from increased data connectivity, from academics to business owners to end-users.

The Future of the IoT

No one can predict the future. Not even AI algorithms. That being said, it appears as though the Internet of Things is not just here to stay, but is slated to become a normal way of life for future generations.

As the IoT continues to progress and proliferate, it will become less visible. Consumers and business owners will come to accept it as a normal facet of life. There won’t be as much hype surrounding new smart home technologies or industrial data analytics programs. Instead, the IoT will become like the Internet is now: incredibly impressive, but taken for granted by most people.

Overcoming Challenges

The greatest challenge to be overcome before the IoT can really take off and appreciate broader acceptance is that it currently poses certain security issues. With more than 7 billion IoT devices already out there, not all manufacturers are on the same page about ensuring that their customers’ data will be protected. Governments across the world are already stepping up by creating new legislation to address these problems, but more will need to be done for the IoT to grow into its full potential.

The problem is, everything that is connected to the Internet can theoretically be hacked. Opponents of technological progress have also expressed concerns about privacy. If the entire world becomes connected, they say, it could threaten the privacy of all its inhabitants, creating a world where constant surveillance becomes the norm.

The solution to these problems is reliable standardization. Current IoT device manufacturers can do their part by prioritizing device security and selecting secure all-in-one IoT platforms to provide connectivity. In the future, they should expect more intervention from government agencies and consumer protection groups. Designing devices that will hold up to scrutiny now is the best way to prepare.

The Bottom Line

Whether consumers like it or not, the IoT is here to stay. It is already ushering in a new way of life for consumers and business owners, alike, offering an unprecedented level of convenience to the former and giving the latter the data they need to produce better products and keep up with changing times. Those who don’t want to be left behind would do well to embrace the IoT in its infancy so they can be prepared for the next innovations to come.

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DH2i has launched DxOdyssey for IoT, an instance of its software-defined perimeter (SDP) and smart availability software encapsulated in a lightweight container to enable it to run on internet of things (IoT) devices.

Company CEO Don Boxley said DxOdyssey was developed originally to enable IT teams to programmatically deploy a platform that enforced a zero-trust architecture using tunnels between edge computing platforms, local data centers and cloud services. Those network tunnels are created in software using DxOdyssey rather than requiring organizations to employ legacy virtual private networks (VPNs), which are not as easy to deploy and manage, he said.

DxOdyssey for IoT extends that capability further using lightweight containers that consume less than 250MB of memory. Previously, extending a zero-trust architecture to IoT devices in the absence of containers was problematic because IoT devices based on either Arm or x86 processors typically don’t have much memory capacity, Boxley noted.

Tunnels across the network are established by DxOdyssey using the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the User Datagram Protocol (UDP) with enhanced error connection to improve overall latency. DxOdyssey also supports the Datagram Transport Security Layer (DTLS) communications protocol to enable encryption, along with public key node authentication.

In general, Boxley said the level of security that needs to be applied to edge computing depends on the use case. A smart meter, for example, may transfer relatively inconsequential data once a month, while other platforms transfer large amounts of sensitive data 24×7.

Regardless of the platform, however, it’s become more challenging for IT teams to secure them in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, noted Boxley. It’s simply not practical to dispatch software teams to manually install software to protect these devices when organizations are trying to limit travel as part of a larger effort to help contain the pandemic.

To hep stem the economic impact brought on by the pandemic, many organizations are investing in edge computing and IoT applications as part of digital business transformation initiatives. Many of those initiatives are being accelerated to either reduce costs or drive new streams of revenue. For many of these organizations, however, security is too often an afterthought even though cybercriminals increasingly are focused on launching attacks against platforms through which they can gain access to the rest of the enterprise.

Regardless of approach, it’s only a matter of time before organizations embrace a software-defined approach to securing various types of edge computing platforms. The attack surface is expanding faster than either cybersecurity or operations technology (OT) can defend. McKinsey recently estimated that edge computing would represent a potential value of $175 billion to $215 billion in hardware alone by 2025, while Verified Market Research expects the global IoT market to grow 26% between 2019 and 2026 to reach a value of more than $1.3 billion by 2026.

Of course, all that assumes a handful of high-profile cybersecurity events won’t derail projects, which then might suddenly be deemed too risky to the business to be allowed to go beyond the pilot phase.

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The vast and intelligent connection of physical devices, known as the Internet of Things (IoT), is increasingly bolstering productivity and communication levels across businesses globally. This also enables various numbers of functions in enterprises. The augmenting use of IoT devices have taken both consumers and organizations by storm, unfortunately, it also possesses specific security concerns to them. Rather, an organization can only reap the promise of IoT’s capabilities if it contemplates the security elements as a vital component of their IoT deployment.

IoT-powered solutions cover a large area of businesses and commercial applications. Their use cases driven by the ability to connect, monitor, and control tens of millions of Internet-connected devices, exchange information, and take autonomous action based on continuous input. These applications and solutions are evident across diverse industries, ranging from manufacturing, healthcare, and transportation to oil and gas, utilities, and energy.

Many IoT devices encompass back doors and software flaws that make them vulnerable and easy to hack. On the other hand, several companies can face challenges of storing and managing the troves of data that these devices produce. In this case, enterprises need to figure out a way to store, track, assess and make sense of the vast amounts of data that will be generated. Thus, it will require a host of innovative solutions to meet these challenges and capitalize on the coming opportunities.

While it is anticipated that the world will have 43 billion IoT-connected devices by 2023, the technological advancements will make it easier to implement, opening the door for a wider variety of companies to benefit from its applications. Large businesses have already begun to invest their sizable resources in IoT technologies over the years ago. This level of uptake results in an impetus of the developing technologies that underpin the IoT.

Moreover, advanced principal technologies and a proliferation of devices have also assisted in fuelling the growth of IoT solutions. It is anticipated that investments in this technology will grow by 13.6 percent per year through 2022. And thanks to new sensors, more computing power, and reliable mobile connectivity, further growth will be evident in IoT in years to come.

An IoT platform not only serves as a middleware that connects devices and sensors but also delivers a large number of functions such as controllers and sensors, a communication network, a gateway device, interpreting and data analysis software along with end application services. The market for IoT will continue to grow as existing IT devices will need to be linked to the technology.

As a whole, IoT has an assortment of applications in enterprise settings, and its adoption is not limited to large companies. Early adopters have shifted beyond pilots to scale IoT solutions across their businesses. In fact, the technology has already made a significant rise in a number of applications across diverse sectors including Industry 4.0, connected cars, smart cities, smart homes, and digital health. IoT has been one such technology that is going to have an enormous impact not only today but also in the future.

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In the year 2019, we witnessed a widespread adoption of the Internet of Things, or IoT. More homes and businesses are now equipped with IoT devices than ever before.

As a result of this widespread adoption, there were many predictions for what would happen with the IoT for the year 2020. However, few people, if any, foresaw Microsoft’s buyout of CyberX.

Despite the advances in IoT over the years, problems such as scalability, visibility, and managing security on current IoT devices (or brownfield devices) remains a major issue.

Microsoft’s takeover of CyberX aims to resolve two of the above problems. In this article, we will discuss the potential impact of this acquisition. We’ll also dive into how the acquisition may help companies to better understand their risks and how to mitigate them.

What Does Microsoft’s Acquisition of CyberX Mean?

Microsoft has shown a long-term commitment to the IoT. In 2018, the company announced a $5 billion investment into the sector. Now the company is taking things one step further with its purchase of CyberX

CyberX’s solution will work alongside Microsoft’s Azure IoT product. For those not familiar with Azure, it incorporates numerous features, including the ability to secure connections and protect cloud storage solutions commonly used in homes.

This is vitally important, especially because most personal home media cloud storage services are really NAS devices (network attached storage), and are intrinsically more vulnerable that cloud servers that are kept in secure data facilities.

But what specifically does the acquisition mean for users? Among other things, it increases visibility, which is a major hurdle with many newer technologies. Microsoft’s acquisition aims to overcome this.

Microsoft has stated that the purchase of CyberX allows customers to view their current IoT assets. In addition, CyberX customers can access a digital map of thousands of devices either throughout the factory floor or within a company.

With this level of visibility available to them, businesses can get a clear picture of their risks and then act to mitigate them. However, there are other benefits too. With access to this information, companies can start taking the first steps toward smart manufacturing and smart grids.

How Microsoft’s Integration with CyberX Can Help Businesses Mitigate Against Security Issues

Besides providing much-needed visibility, CyberX mitigates security problems in several ways including:

• Giving users a risk score along with suggestions on how to fix potential problems.
• Providing continuous monitoring, and issuing real-time alerts to users to suspicious behavior, which may suggest a security compromise.
• Protecting IoT devices through its built-in quarantine and firewall options.

Nir Giller, CyberX co-founder and CTO, argued that the IoT and cloud are driving the shift towards zero trust strategies and “requires a holistic understanding of what devices are connected and how they’re communicating…so you can quickly detect and mitigate attacks before they impact your organization.”

Common Attacks on IoT Devices

No one should underestimate the importance of securing IoT devices. A report by the Irdeto Global Connected Industries Cybersecurity Survey described IoT cyberattacks as the ‘new normal’.

Indeed, research shows these attacks are rising at a massive rate. IoT attacks increased by 300% in 2019 over 2018, and those attacks have only increased further in the months since then.

It’s been predicted by experts that most of the billions of IoT devices installed in the coming years will have limited security controls and be open to other forms of abuse. Attempts to compromise devices can often go unnoticed because of the lack of network monitoring and IoT users need to develop their awareness of increasing threats.

For instance, ransomware has long been an issue with websites and computers, but the IoT is increasingly becoming a target as well. This is a problem that is likely to continue as it becomes a more prominent part of work and home life.

Other types of attacks include:

• Brute forcing passwords: brute-forcing is possible because many IoT devices have weak passwords.
• Denial of service attacks(DoS): These attacks force websites down and potentially steal data.
• Botnets: these run silently on a system. Hackers control botnets and their use can lead to DOS attacks.
• Data and identity theft: the theft of sensitive data kept on computers and other servers. Identify theft refers to the illegal use of another person’s personal information.
• Man in the middle attacks: a malicious party may intercept personal messages and attempt to steal data.
• Firmware hijacking: when an individual gets into the firmware and injects malicious code.
• Privilege escalation: the exploitation of an operating system, once an unauthorized person has access, they can gain access to protected areas of a system.

How to Protect Your IoT Devices

There is no guaranteed way of fully protecting your IoT devices. However, there are several steps users can take to better secure them to severely mitigate the risk of a cyberattack. The first and arguably most important is installing a Virtual Private Network, or VPN.

This is because the best VPNs use a specific form of encryption which allows secure data to be sent through IoT (often called the “edge”), thus giving a network additional robustness and guarding against data theft. A VPN will also shield IP addresses, potentially preventing DDoS attacks, and encrypt all traffic sent between a user’s device and their network.

Additional measures that you can take to protect your IoT devices as well include:

• Keep passwords updated and change them regularly. If there is a suspected breach, change the password immediately. If the device comes with a default password, be sure to change it.
• Update devices. Do this by checking for firmware and software updates for new patches.
• Only buy IoT devices from established sellers and manufacturers.
• Be prepared to spend more. Although some IoT users might want to limit their budget, the higher-priced devices tend to have additional features that may provide extra security.
• Ensure the device complies with the U.S. government’s IoT Cybersecurity Act. Introduced in 2017, the act details measures IoT devices must have to protect them from attack. This includes allowing IoT users the ability to patch up their systems and not selling devices with known flaws.
• Limit opportunities for hackers by switching the device off when it is not in use and keeping business and personal devices separate.

Conclusion

The IoT has brought us many innovations. Without it, new innovations and partnerships in commerce and retail may not have been possible. However, security has remained a challenge, and Microsoft’s purchase of CyberX aims to rectify this.

As well as bringing multiple security benefits such as constant monitoring and improved visibility, there is plenty more to be gained from Microsoft’s new collaboration. For instance, the acquisition may mean better resilience for Microsoft’s data centers and protect vital infrastructure.

While the success of Microsoft’s purchase remains to be seen, it is likely to depend on several factors, including the company’s ability to integrate CyberX into its current offerings.

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San Francisco: Security researchers have discovered serious vulnerabilities that could expose millions of Internet of Things (IoT) devices worldwide to hackers.

The list of affected vendors includes HP, Schneider Electric, Intel, Rockwell Automation, Caterpillar and Baxter.

According to JSOF, a boutique cybersecurity organization, the vulnerabilities dubbed ‘Ripple20’ relate to the Treck TCP/IP stack, a TCP/IP protocol suite designed for embedded systems.

The vulnerability affects hundreds of millions of IoT devices that could potentially allow nefarious actors, including nation-states, to remote take-over of these devices, the organization said in a statement late Tuesday.

JSOF said it discovered the Treck vulnerability while doing a security analysis of a single device last fall and found that its TCP-IP stack contained hackable vulnerabilities.

The firm soon realised that the code wasn’t written by the device’s manufacturer, but rather came from Treck; that meant the bugs weren’t in a single device but everywhere underscoring how widely IoT flaws can propagate

The risks inherent in this situation are high.

“Data could be stolen off of a printer, an infusion pump behaviour changed or industrial control devices could be made to malfunction.

“An attacker could hide malicious code within embedded devices for years. One of the vulnerabilities could enable entry from outside into the network boundaries; and this is only a small taste of the potential risks,” the researchers explained.

JSOF said it has contacted every vendor of affected devices, and many of the companies have released software updates.

The organisation has been working with several organizations to coordinate the disclosure of the flaws.

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