Internet of Things, Are we Safe?
Last week we had a class on Internet of Things and one of the topics that interests me is what is the future of Iot in security and how it will affect our privacy and personal space. So I decided to go deeper into the topic to explore some of the safety aspects of the technology.
The Internet of things is connecting more and more devices every day and predictions are that we will have more than more than 24 billion devices by 2020 according to Andrew Meola in an article on business insider. Iot is likely to meld the physical and virtual world together. It is already invading our everyday devices like Tesla’s self driving cars, apple watches, smart homes, wearables and even ingestibles. Our private spaces are slowly getting intermixed with intelligent technology which could potentially listen to, interpret, track, and alter our behaviour and activity.
It’s Already Happening
Recently Snapchat came up with its “SnapMaps” update which can track your phone activity to tell your followers exactly where you are and what you’re doing. So whether you are going for a car ride to the mall or sleeping in your bed, your followers can keep track of it all. Another surprising privacy breach I experienced was on facebook when I was about to update my status about this new dress I got from Forever21 but then decided not to make the post and didn’t press send. Minutes later I started getting ads for Forever21 sale offers and I couldn’t be more shocked! Another example is a restaurant that started using digital menus with hidden cameras which would track the customer’s eye movements and emotions while reading about their dishes so that they could optimize the menu to increase their sales.
Privacy, Security and Facts
Privacy with personal space and information is one of the major security concerns associated with Iot. Also, Iot devices are vulnerable to hacking, and it’s going to take a very long time to patch all the holes and make the technology airtight. AT&T’s Cybersecurity Insights Report surveyed more than 5,000 enterprises around the world and found that 85% of enterprises are in the process of or intend to deploy IoT devices. Yet a mere 10% of those surveyed feel confident that they could secure those devices against hackers. A Federal Trade Commission report entitled “Internet of Things: Privacy & Security in a Connected World” found that fewer than 10,000 households can generate 150 million discrete data points every day. This creates more entry points for hackers and leaves sensitive information vulnerable. In anticipation of new forecasts from Gartner, new threats will emerge through 2021 as hackers find new ways to attack IoT devices and protocols, so long-lived things may need updatable hardware and software to adapt during their lifespan.
What can we do?
While threats will always exist with the IoT as they do with other upcoming technologies, it is possible to bolster the security of IoT environments using security tools such as data encryption, strong user authentication, resilient coding and standardized and tested APIs that react in a predictable manner. We need to slowly adopt IoT, while keeping a balance between our physical locks and virtual ones. As systems interact with each other, it’s essential to have an agreed interoperability standard, which safe and valid. Without a solid bottom-top structure we will create more threats with every device added to the IoT. What we need is a secure and safe IoT with privacy completely protected which will take time to flourish but is not impossible to implement.
References :
http://www.businessinsider.com/internet-of-things-security-privacy-2016-8
http://www.futureofeverything.io/2017/06/22/future-iot-security/
https://datafloq.com/read/internet-of-things-iot-security-privacy-safety/948
http://www.amsterdamsecurity.com/en/news/article/how-the-internet-of-things-will-change-physical-security/
http://www.nanalyze.com/2016/11/19-internet-things-iot-security-startups/
https://www.iso.org/news/2016/09/Ref2113.html
https://www.forbes.com/sites/gilpress/2017/03/20/6-hot-internet-of-things-iot-security-technologies/#236577f61b49
Users who have LIKED this post:
2 comments on “Internet of Things, Are we Safe?”
Comments are closed.
Hi Arohi,
Thanks for your post this week; I enjoyed reading it because this is something which I only recently became concerned about over the course of this summer at Stanford. I agree with your paragraph entitled ‘It’s Already Happening’, but would further stress that this has been going on for a long time now. For years I have experienced privacy breaches through advertising, most frequently via Amazon and Facebook. Even WhatsApp, whose revenue source is often much-discussed, seem to be making vast amounts of profit from the data they collect, so Facebook’s eagerness to acquire it was unsurprising…
In today’s world driven by consumerism, people are eager to purchase new devices and products unflinchingly, perhaps in an attempt to appear ‘tech savy’. As each new piece of kit floods the market, my worry is that consumers seem to be becoming more oblivious to the risks, rather than the other way as you would expect. I recently encountered Amazon’s Alexa at a friend’s home and was shocked; it felt as if there was someone else in the room, observing and learning about you by the minute. In Facebook’s early days people were concerned about who would see their posts, but now the influx of technology has seemingly desensitised consumers. It’s time for people, having realised the value of their messages and searches, to regain their awareness and autonomy.
Shiv (MS&E 238A)
Hi Arohi,
That was a good read. I liked the part about your personal experiences on FB about data being used without your knowledge.
One thing I’d like to add is that is that with the advent of 5G, that will provide additional security to IOT networked devices. 5G network subscriptions will be protected by a network authentication application (NAA) within the device for network identification, authentication, and encryption. The device identity and the identity stored in the NAA will be separate and independent from each other, as in earlier generations where the IMEI and IMSI/keys were stored in separate logical entities.