Meet IoT security challenges head-on

Computer Weekly are reporting that hackers are likely to attack the applications that control endpoint devices

Hackers are likely to target core systems and applications – not just devices. These systems collect, normalise and store the high volume of data generated by IoT-enabled devices.

Strong security mechanisms on the endpoint device are still essential, but from a hacker’s perspective, why exert effort to exploit a single device when attacking the application that controls them… Why stop a single truck when you can alter logistics data in a competitor’s supply chain to disrupt planned shipping schedules? …

IoT devices present opportunities to improve customer satisfaction and engagement. But for CISOs whose firms are manufacturing, buying or using IoT devices, they also introduce pressing potential security problems, including the less obvious – but very real – issue of flawed firmware updates…

Constrained device environments make IoT devices extremely hard to patch. Many IoT devices lack a physical user interface or screen, which makes it hard to notify a user about the need to deploy an update and steps to do so…

“People aren’t paying for a development team when purchasing IoT devices,” says one Cisco researcher. “The lifetime of IoT devices is long. If the vendor only maintains it for a year or two, you are left on your own for the rest of the device’s life.”…

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