Internet of Things or IoT was introduced a long time back but no significant improvements were made in this sector and eventually people started calling it “Internet of Nothing.” But in a drastic turn of events, last year hit the folks and professionals hard. A malware known as “Mirai Botnet” shook the entire world as it easily took over several IoT devices. This made us focus on the security more because now the world knows about the vulnerability of IoT.
We are no more in a position to ignore the fact that Internet has penetrated almost all the technological advancements. Just give it a thought, what was once confined only to laptops, desktops and other static devices, is now connected with the tiniest and portable devices as well. Being connected in a huge network means being at threat of attacked.
Also Read: How Machine Learning Can Improve IoT Security
The professionals have raised questions about being prepared for this and the attacks by Mirai Botnet made us aware that we are not! We do have several other instances and by going through them you can actually realize what’s wrong with the IoT security!
Can IoT Stand Tall In Terms Of Security?
Definitely not! And know about how things are far different from the standard systems when we take IoT into consideration. Let’s get started!
We ought to consider that unlike PC and laptops, the IoT devices don’t have huge processing power or memory. This directly points out that they lack security solutions or encryption protocols to protect them from security breaches. Not only the devices, the protocols and the network connecting them is also not protected, and thus always at the verge of getting attacked. Another problem that lies with IoT is that in most of the cases, they are not upgradeable. Simply put, the advanced version of the same is not available frequently.
The DoS attack by Mirai was possible because IoT devices have default passwords. These credentials can be found easily from the Internet and hackers can use them against you.
The devices connected all over are not the major issue, but data generated from them is! There are millions of devices whose data is freely floating on the network and it is easy to hack.
These are some prominent issues that we are facing right now regarding IoT. But what about the protocols? Who’s going to decide them? Well there are no such agencies that have come forward to give rules, but we cannot allow anyone to make rules unless they are entirely aware of the rules and working of these devices.
There are many suggestions on how we can improve the security in our system but all of them are in testing phase and may or may not be feasible for the use.
Will AI Act as A Rescuer?
Yes, it may! It’s often argued upon but machine learning and AI can identify general patterns and identify admin when abnormalities are being noticed! The best part is IoT devices have limited function, the work becomes even more easy. However, implementation of this is still a far-fetched dream. The reason behind the same is that we have recently started using machine learning for security and developing such efficient systems is not possible yet! We need intervention of humans to secure our devices!
Also Read: Is IoT The Smart Solution to Conserve Natural Resources?
What Should We Expect?
We can combine all the knowledge we have to secure our systems, but they are in millions! And thus, we might fail even after putting in efforts. So, we cannot leave everything to the developers and security experts. Practically, it is not possible to secure each and every device in the network and unless you are living under rock, you should know that the attacker only requires to get in to your network for once to unleash the attack. So, this justifies that we are not ready for IoT takeover! Be ready or not, but it’s coming!
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