Summary
A kind reminder: the Internet of Things is not the root cause of every cybersecurity threat.
More importantly, we can leverage the IoT capabilities to counter most of the security challenges!
Reasoning
The Internet of Things is commonly perceived as the root cause of every cybersecurity threat. I disagree with that approach. The IoT system is as secure as we (architects and developers) build it. What is true is the following:
The IoT introduces the widest attack surface in the history of computers.
What is the attack surface? Those are all the potential points of vulnerability that malicious actors can exploit.
The Internet of Things spans across the physical and digital worlds. As a result, it inherits all security challenges from every domain it touches.
The attack surface of the IoT ecosystem consists of the following :
- Communication Channels
- Firmware and Software
- End User Interfaces
- Data Transmission
- Cloud Services
- IoT Devices
- Humans
On the other hand, the IoT has a significant potential to counter versatile threats.
IoT offers numerous gains for cybersecurity:
- Real-time awareness
- Automated responses
- Zero Trust Architectures
- Context-aware authentication
- Supply Chain security oversight
Video
I covered this topic in detail during my webinar. You can find the recording below.
