Internet of Things and Security
Internet of Things (IoT) adoption is on the rise, new use cases are emerging by the minute, and there are success stories appearing daily. There is no doubt, this is fundamentally shifting how enterprises operates within itself and how it interacts with outside world. While IoT brings productivity improvement, efficiency and accuracy to take informed decisions, it also opens up many doors for potential intruders to gain insight into valuable data. Security and Privacy along with Job losses are some of the major concerns, during discussions.
The success of IoT solution for a business problem lies in its granularity, and it comes with the risk of having many connected devices in a smaller footprint, sending vast amount of unstructured data over the network and to the central storage, on premises or cloud. Though we have standards and tools available to protect data in the cloud and core infrastructure (in spite of that hackers exploiting vulnerabilities is order of the day!), vast amount of nonstandard and proprietary Internet connected devices makes the system highly vulnerable, and will provide entry door to the sensitive corporate data.
In this digital era, every company is transforming itself as a technology company. Companies are either actively looking to incorporate IoT solutions in their product and service lines, or already becoming trendsetters in implementing select solutions. If it is not done right – security is not considered as part of the design, the impact could be manifold – financial, reputation, legal and regulatory implications. With the expectation of positive impact of IoT intervention to the business outcome, often times such miniature devices are enabled with Internet connectivity without thoroughly evaluating security considerations. It is as good as leaving key with the lock!
With limited standards and controls available at the sensors level, it is critical to put adequate control to protect the data it generates and on the analyzed information at the central location or cloud, to reduce the risk of compromise.
By implementing analytics at the edge and at the cloud, the endpoints can be managed for efficiency, rather than as a potential security hole in the enterprise. Analytics will help gather not only the relevant data for improving operations, it also helps taking proactive actions, whenever there is a pattern suggesting a compromise. The data collected from the sensors can provide useful insight into suspicious activity to take quick actions, for example, shutting down a specific segment or unit, before it becomes widespread.
By ensuring security as part of the design, assessing each device for impact on compromise and applying “need to know”, framework, risks associated with IoT roll out can be vastly reduced.
On Job Security, IoT will create more jobs than it potentially replaces. When physical infrastructure meets digital, it opens up more avenues for the industries to drive value. Example – Heineken story here.
Moreover, when IoT becomes pervasive, it gives new insights, and will unearth new use cases, new business opportunities, and will require human talent to serve those needs. For example in healthcare, IoT is already having greater impact on primary care services. Practitioners can manage the conversations with the patient with prior information, and increase the utilization. At the same time, awareness created by the sensors (wearables and home care equipment used by the patients) will drive preventive visits to the hospitals upwards, and increasing the need for practitioners.
Yes, it reorganizes the work force, and reskilling of workforce is needed, as in the case of every technology evolution in the past.
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