Awareness of IoT already there but online security is a concern: Survey

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Here’s how the emerging field of the Internet of Things (IoT) and Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications is creeping into our day to day lives. Cooperative education and research institute working in the field of online security, SANS has said its recent survey had shown that at least 60 per cent of people polled knew about IoT and how relevant it was to their enterprise and their jobs.

Announcing the results of its ‘2013 Securing the Internet of Things’ survey, sponsored by Codenomicon and Norse, SANS said 43 per cent of respondents were already actively working to secure some of these types of “Things” in their environments. The survey had 391 IT professionals answering questions about the current and future security realities of the IoT.

“The Internet of Things is not just a buzzword, nor is it merely a vision of the sci-fi future. It’s already happening, in every sector of the global economy. Self-parking cars, autonomous drones, smart meters talking to smart appliances in the home, HVAC systems in commercial buildings, wireless-enabled medical devices and wearable fitness gadgets are all examples. Ubiquitous embedded software, often vulnerable and even unpatchable, enabled by 24/7 wireless connectivity, creates an unprecedented level of interconnectivity and complexity,” SANS Analyst Gal Shpantzer, said.

Survey author John Pescatore said the results showed that the security community was already aware of the challenges the IoT would bring, and that those challenges will require both the evolution of existing security controls and the development of new security processes.

Survey respondents were most concerned about device connections to the Internet (50 per cent), followed by vulnerabilities associated with the command and control channel to the device’s firmware (24 per cent), with another 9 per cent concerned about the firmware itself.

While most organisations were preparing to embrace the IoT, 50 per cent of respondents were not ready to secure an ecosystem of “Things”. They acknowledged that their IT staff was responsible for securing their Things but expected vendors to play a critical role in security of such devices as well.

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