The Internet of Things (IoT) is the internetworking of physical devices, vehicles, buildings and other items which are rooted with electronics, software, sensors, actuators and network connectivity. According to Gartner, Inc., there will be nearly 20.8 billion devices on the Internet of things by 2020.
Now IoT devices are the latest target for hackers. “Hackers can use the IoT device to jump right into the network,” said Chris Coleman, senior engineering manager at VeeDog. He said that wireless Internet routers in small businesses are particularly liable to attack if they’re not well protected.
“A lot of devices out there have intelligent connections to the Internet that represent a real and persistent danger to your business,” said Coleman.
IoT devices can be easily hacked from as far as 229 feet and might be so simple it takes few minutes to do so. If an internet connected device gets hacked, the malware could easily spread to other devices in the network. The Internet of things requires huge scalability in the network space to handle the surge of devices. IETF 6LoWPAN would be used to connect devices to IP networks. IPv6 will play a major role in handling the network layer scalability.
The U.S. National Intelligence Council in an unclassified report maintains that it would be hard to deny “access to networks of sensors and remotely controlled objects by enemies of the United States, criminals, and mischief makers. An open market for aggregated sensor data could serve the interests of commerce and security no less than it helps criminals and spies identify vulnerable targets. Thus, massively parallel sensor fusion may undermine social cohesion, if it proves to be fundamentally incompatible with Fourth-Amendment guarantees against unreasonable search.”
Tips to keep IoT devices safe:
- Keep your computer network, servers, laptops, desktops, network switches, wireless routers, and any other devices software UPDATED.
- Do make BACKUP of your device data.
- Always check what type of SOFTWARE you need to install with the one you are installing.
- SCAN your system once a week and keep a strong PASSWORD access to your system and data.
- Coleman recommends disabling Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) and using only Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2).
- Keep your website with additional protection against a DDoS Distributed Denial of Service attack.
