Why secure your IoT Devices?

Introduction to IoT

This blog describes one of the current disruptive technologies in the market, i.e. IoT (Internet of Things) devices. The Internet of things (IoT) is the Internet of connected physical devices, vehicles, appliances and everyday objects that can collect & share information without any intervention. Due to IoT devices, end users can easily manage their connected devices remotely.

IoT devices are equipped with sensors & connected to the Internet. These include ‘Smart Digital Home’ devices & appliances that can be controlled remotely, Laptops, Tablets, Smartphones, Refrigerators, Coffee Machines, Smart Internet enabled TVs, Speakers, Lighting Fixtures, Wearable Devices, Thermostats, Commercial Security Systems, and Smart City Technologies, which help the government in monitoring traffic & weather conditions, etc.

Millions & billions of devices in the world are without Internet and are used in Hospitals, Offices, Agriculture, Transportation, Insurance, Home, Manufacturing, Cars, other industries. IoT involves converting these traditionally-not-connected-to-internet physical devices & everyday objects into internet connected smart digital devices. IoT support helps to monitor and control these devices remotely through internet and deliver a consistent & superior life experience to its end users.

IoT devices consist of smart devices that have sensors, embedded processors, hardware with capability to gather information and send it to some central location where the data can be stored, analyzed and processed and certain actions can be performed seamlessly on the device. Few organizations are going beyond this approach and building large Big Data Storage’s or Data Lakes which can collect enormous information from all internet connected devices. This data is further analyzed or processed to derive some trends or intelligence which can help other similar devices. This analysis is sent back to all the devices to ensure these devices become smarter each day in a continuous ongoing process. All these tasks are performed remotely without any local intervention by humans.

 

The future of IoT 

Many organizations are including IoT as part of their digital transformations, enabling them to optimize existing operation cost, and excel at creating & pursuing exciting new business opportunities.

• Gartner forecasts that connected things will reach 25 billion by 2021, producing immense volume of
• McKinsey Global Institute estimates that IoT could have an annual economic impact of $3.9 trillion to $11.1 trillion by 2025 across many different settings, including factories, cities, retail environments, and the human body.
• Bain & Company predicts the Internet of Things market will be more than double to $520 billion by
• Ericsson is forecasting the number of cellular IoT connections is expected to reach 5B in 2023, increasing at a CAGR of 30%.
• Worldwide technology spending on the Internet of Things to reach $1.2T in 2022, attaining a CAGR of 6% over the 2017-2022 forecast period according to IDC.
• The market for Industry 4.0 products and services is expected to grow to $310B by

In short, all these reports indicate disruptive changes in the lives of human being as well as at organization levels. Many of the industries have already adapted to IoT and working on supporting & building solutions around it.

 

IoT Device Security 

IoT devices are connected through the Internet, hence there are certain aspects related to Security & Data Privacy which need to be taken care of sooner or later. Due to rapid growth in IoT solutions, there is a lack of mechanism to safeguard these smart devices, end users & associated data privacy. General PC security solutions either will not run on IoT devices or will not help effectively.

Few incidents in past have already shown the world that remote hacks are possible.

1. In 2016 a large distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack dubbed Mirai affected DNS servers on the east coast of the United States, disrupting services worldwide — an issue traced back to hackers infiltrating networks through IoT devices, including wireless routers and connected
2. Amazon’s Ring Video Doorbell lets attackers steal your Wi-Fi password.
3. Critical flaws found in VxWorks RTOS that powers over 2 billion devices.
4. Z-Wave downgrade attack left over 100 Million IoT devices open to hackers.

Securing entire IoT device ecosystems is a challenging task due to the different devices & vendors involved. There are no security standards being defined – due to different nonstandard hardware being used for IoT Devices. There are no genuine external certification agencies / government regulations for IOT as of now. Few proactive security measures which can be implemented include:

• Setting strong & unique passwords
• Monitoring your IoT devices
• Implementing IDS/IPS security
• Securing devices using anti-malware & anti-virus solutions
• Keeping updated firmware
• Protect or separate networks (along with restricted access to authorized users only)
• Firewalls
• Avoiding use of public Wi-Fi
• Keeping software updated with latest available released versions
• Permission driven authentication
• Authorization & identify management
• Encrypting data and the communication
• Installing third party applications from genuine and authentic websites only
• Disconnecting IoT devices when not in use
• IoT Service providers should release regular patches.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has released an article on the risks associated with Internet- connected devices, commonly referred to as the Internet of Things (IoT). FBI warns that cyber threat actors can use unsecured IoT devices as proxies to anonymously pursue malicious cyber activities.

As our reliance on IoT becomes an important part of everyday life, being aware of the associated risks is a key part of keeping your information and devices secure. NCCIC encourages users and administrators to review the FBI article for more information and refer to the NCCIC Tip Securing the Internet of Things.

 

Quick Heal Offerings

Quick Heal Home Security (QHHS):

Quick Heal Home Security (QHHS) is a secure Wi-Fi router that ensures a safe internet browsing experience for Home users. It secures every internet-connected device in your home from cyber threats. These devices include Smart TV, CCTV, Game consoles, Smart Fridge, Wi-Fi connected ACs, and other such appliances or IoT devices. QHHS protects your home Wi-Fi network by adding an extra layer of security between your smart devices and threats on the Internet.

The best part is that considering all the security challenges faced by the IoT devices;  QHHS solves most of them without the user being disturbed; as QHHS acts as a secure doorway for all traffic (generated from IoT or non IoT devices) going to outside world, and thus protecting from frauds, vulnerabilities, exploitation and hijacking.

Please refer this web-page to get more details about the Product Offerings: https://www.quickheal.co.in/quick-heal-home-security/.

Summary

As IoT devices and its usage is growing each year, these devices need to be secured from advanced cyber-attacks & techniques using a secure router. In the IoT device ecosystem, it is most important that the IoT device itself must employ the required security layers to safeguard itself from the dangers of the outside world. As most of the devices are generally deployed outside the Secure Enterprise premises, device having self-protection becomes essential & critical part of the device security.

Security for these devices needs to be considered in its Architecture/Design, coding, testing phases to ensure a robust IoT device along with hardware capabilities, to detect any tampering with the physical device. These measures will ensure that all the complex & mission critical IoT devices are secure at each layer.