https://www.iotworldtoday.com/wp-content/themes/ioti_child/assets/images/logo/footer-logo.png
  • Home
  • News
    • Back
    • IoT World 2020 News
  • Strategy
  • Special Reports
  • Galleries
  • Business Resources
    • Back
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Industry Perspectives
    • Featured Vendors
  • Other Content
    • Back
    • IoT World 2020 News
    • Q&As
    • Case Studies
    • Features
    • How-to
    • Opinion
    • Video / Podcasts
  • More
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Strategic Partners
  • IOT World Events
    • Back
    • Internet of Things World: San Jose
    • IoT World 2020 News
Iot World Today
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • News
    • Back
    • IoT World 2020 News
  • Strategy
  • Special Reports
  • Galleries
  • Business Resources
    • Back
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Industry Perspectives
    • Featured Vendors
  • Other Content
    • Back
    • IoT World 2020 News
    • Q&As
    • Case Studies
    • Features
    • How-to
    • Opinion
    • Video / Podcasts
  • More
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Strategic Partners
  • IOT World Events
    • Back
    • Internet of Things World: San Jose
    • IoT World 2020 News
  • newsletter
  • IIoT
  • Cities
  • Energy
  • Homes/Buildings
  • Transportation/Logistics
  • Connected Health Care
  • Retail
  • AI
  • Architecture
  • Engineering/Development
  • Security
ioti.com

Security


Thinkstock

Security

IoT Cybersecurity Awareness Rising, but Maturity Lagging

According to recent research, 97 percent of security and risk professionals fear an IoT cybersecurity catastrophe.
  • Written by Brian Buntz
  • 28th March 2018

Conversations surrounding IoT cybersecurity often verge on the hyperbolic, playing up outlandish-sounding scenarios involving hacked cars and airplanes, pacemakers and the power grid. But a spate of recent news, including a cyberattack targeting the city of Atlanta and Russian meddling with the U.S. power grid gives credence to threat. As does a recent survey from the Ponemon Institute and Shared Assessments, which indicates a certain amount of paranoia regarding unsecured IoT deployments is well-founded. Perhaps most telling is the fact that 97 percent of the 605 security and corporate governance professionals agreed a data breach or cyberattack related to IoT devices could be catastrophic.

Meanwhile, the average number of IoT devices within a given organization is steadily ticking up, hitting 15,874, according to the survey. But less than half of those organizations — 44 percent — keeps an inventory of those devices, leaving them ill-equipped to detect suspicious IoT-based malware or network activity. “If you don’t know what is connected to your network, how are you going to monitor if anything bad is going on?” asked Charlie Miller, senior vice president of The Santa Fe Group and Shared Assessments who was involved in the research.

The research also indicated that the most common way to manage IoT-related third-party risks was with contract clauses and policies. “It is good to have those in place, but we don’t really see a lot of focus on monitoring those clauses or policies in operational situations,” Miller said. ‘Many times, those documents just sit on the shelf.”

On the bright side, the survey, “Second Annual Study on The Internet of Things (IoT): A New Era of Third-Party Risk,” did measure a perceptible increase in awareness of the threat posed by IoT cybersecurity in general over last year as well as increased understanding how IoT deployments can drive third-party risk. But many organizations could improve when it comes to devising specific measures to address such concerns. “We have a hard enough time fixing issues we identify with IT devices or applications,” Miller said. “When you have an IoT device that may not be able to be updated with any kind of security features, that is even more problematic.”

Still, dedicated IoT security spending is ticking upwards. Gartner recently concluded that global IoT security investment will hit $1.5 billion this year — a 28 percent rise over last year.  

On the other hand, IoT-based attacks have yet to affect the majority of the organizations involved in the survey, but they have increased substantially in the past year. In 2017, 15 percent of the professionals surveyed reported a data breach, while 16 percent said they had been hit with a cyberattack. This year, the figures for both reached 21 percent.

While risk and security professionals are more acutely aware of the risk, a substantial number of business leaders are not. “There is still a disconnect between the professionals who are identifying this stuff and getting the right word up to the board to take action upon it,” Miller said.

The steadily increasing number of IoT devices used in enterprise as well as consumer settings will likely open up wholly new types of cyberattacks, Miller said. “In a recent steering committee meeting, someone joked: ‘This will become a problem when your Alexa tells your refrigerator to order food based on your last order. Then, your refrigerator communicates to your PayPal, Venmo or Zelle account and the payment is made without you even knowing it,’” Miller recounted. “You have exposure across all of those devices.”

Tags: Article Security Technologies

Related


  • 3d rendering of human brain on technology background
    AI Ups the Ante for IoT Cybersecurity
    Security providers in IT and OT have implemented AI, ML and other advanced technologies to make systems smarter than malicious attackers.
  • IoT security
    Protecting Your Network Against Ripple20 Vulnerabilities
    Early this year, Ripple20 wrought havoc on numerous IoT devices, given vulnerable third-party code. Here are ways to prevent your organization from the fallout.
  • IoT security
    IoT Security Trends, 2021: COVID-19 Casts Long Shadow
    While some IoT security trends in 2021 will continue trends from 2019 and 2020, COVID-19 has brought some new threats to the fore.
  • IoT security
    IoT Device Security: Risk Assessment, Hygiene Are Key
    As devices and data proliferate at the edge of the network, IT pros have encountered new challenges in securing enterprise IT systems.

Leave a comment Cancel reply

-or-

Log in with your IoT World Today account

Alternatively, post a comment by completing the form below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Related Content

  • COVID-19 Driving Data Integration Projects in IoT
  • Intro to LynxSecure
  • Can Privacy-Preserving Machine Learning Overcome Data-Sharing Worries?
  • Cybersecurity Crisis Management During the Coronavirus Pandemic

News

View all

Private LTE Market Projected to Grow to $13 Billion

12th January 2021

IoT World Announces 2021 IoT World Advisory Board

9th December 2020

White Papers

View all

The eSIM Cookbook – Towards the Next Generation of Connected Devices

22nd February 2021

eSIM Delivers Greater Freedom for OEMs – by Beecham Research and Truphone

22nd February 2021

Special Reports

View all

Cybersecurity Protection Increasingly Depends on Machine Learning

28th October 2020

Webinars

View all

Weber’s Journey: How a Top Grill Maker Serves Up Connected Cooking

25th February 2021

From Insights to Action: Best Practices for Implementing Connected Device Security

15th December 2020

Galleries

View all

Top IoT Trends to Watch in 2020

26th January 2020

Five of the Most Promising Digital Health Technologies

14th January 2020

Industry Perspectives

View all

IoT Spending Holds Firm — Tempered by Dose of ‘IoT Pragmatism’

1st December 2020

The Great IoT Connectivity Lockdown

11th May 2020

Events

View all

IoT at the Edge

17th March 2021

Embedded IoT World 2021

28th April 2021 - 29th April 2021

IoT World 2021

2nd November 2021 - 4th November 2021

Twitter

IoTWorldToday, IoTWorldSeries

📢 Announcing #EIOTWORLD sponsor, @aicas_IoT — a flexible, more efficient approach to embedded realtime application… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

4th March 2021
IoTWorldToday, IoTWorldSeries

Microsoft Ignite 2021: Innovation in COVID-19 Era Signals Future Trends dlvr.it/RtwYcg

4th March 2021
IoTWorldToday, IoTWorldSeries

At Microsoft Ignite: How IoT and Robotics Are Driving Industry 4.0 dlvr.it/Rttgwj

3rd March 2021
IoTWorldToday, IoTWorldSeries

🎙️ Introducing #EIOTWORLD speaker, Obinna Ilochonwu, Industrial IoT Architect at Schlumberger. 📅 Join his session… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

2nd March 2021
IoTWorldToday, IoTWorldSeries

#Smartbuilding technology lays the foundation for #energyefficiency efforts but also new COVID-19 goals, such as… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

2nd March 2021

Newsletter

Sign up for IoT World Today newsletters: vertical industry coverage on Tuesdays and horizontal tech coverage on Thursdays.

Special Reports

Our Special Reports take an in-depth look at key topics within the IoT space. Download our latest reports.

Business Resources

Find the latest white papers and other resources from selected vendors.

Media Kit and Advertising

Want to reach our audience? Access our media kit.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • IoT World Series
  • Channel Futures
  • RISC-V
  • Dark Reading
  • ITPro Today
  • Web Hosting Talk

WORKING WITH US

  • Contact
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Login/Register

FOLLOW IoT World Today ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookies Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2021 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.
This website uses cookies, including third party ones, to allow for analysis of how people use our website in order to improve your experience and our services. By continuing to use our website, you agree to the use of such cookies. Click here for more information on our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
X