Smart Industry 1/2016

Smart Business Making the world safe
Internet of Threats
Today more and more everyday devices
are interconnected. While they are certainly
making life easier, they have also
created new attack vectors for hackers.
As we begin to enter the world of IoT
it is important to be aware of and
understand the new and
expanded security risks
involved and how
to combat them.
■ by Gerhard Kafka*
Now that we are going to
connect everything to the
Internet, new opportunities
are arising for cybercrime.
The IoT refers to any object or device
which connects to the Internet to automatically
send and/or receive data.
These include automated devices
which remotely or automatically adjust
lighting or HVAC (heating-ventilationair-conditioning),
security systems,
such as security alarms or Wi-Fi cameras,
including video monitors used in
nursery and daycare settings, medical
devices, such as wireless heart monitors
or insulin dispensers, thermostats,
wearables, such as fitness devices,
modules which activate or deactivate
lights, smart appliances, such as smart
refrigerators and TVs, office equipment,
such as printers, entertainment
devices to control music or television
Intelligence
services
will use the
IoT to gain
access to
networks
James R. Clapper
Director of US National
Intelligence
from a mobile device, and fuel monitoring
systems, just to name a few.
As organizations and vendors rush
to create a totally connected society,
they are typically faced with two
photo©: Wikipedia
daunting question. The first: How to
develop products quickly enough
to gain a time-to-market advantage,
with the markets and applicable
regulators dictating requirements
and thus the level of investment in
product security by vendors. And
the second: How to embed security
throughout the lifecycle of IoT product
development, as this will result in
higher costs and slower time to market,
albeit clearly adding value in the
short, medium, and long term.
Both are tough questions, but unless
cyber-security is considered in
every phase of IoT development,
including requirement setting, product
design and developmental, as
well as deployment, the problems
companies have encountered with
embedded systems in the past will
seem like child’s play.
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*Gerhard Kafka is an experienced writer and author of numerous books in the fields of digitalization and IoT