IOT Security – Closed vs Open systems and challenges

Our earlier blog covered how ‘physical security’ and ‘data handling’ are two great challenges for security administrators.  Here we are cover how ‘openness’ of IOT systems will add to these challenge.

The growth of Internet of Things is ever pervading across industries and horizontal applications. What is key here is to understand the fact that the ‘business users’ and ‘consumers’ are able to understand the need for smart devices – and ‘data’ and ‘decisions’ through them.  This means that there is an essential need for smarter outputs.  Earlier, most systems – Operational Technology – that uses sensors were closed.   This means that the protocols have been proprietary and interfaces being closed.  This proprietary and closed systems have been good enough to provide the needed security away from the eyes of the hackers.

One of the most crucial factors of success is adapting to open protocols and interfaces so that the data that is generated reaches the consumer, who we have seen, are already demanding more data and decision support.  There are two factors:  the openness has to pervade the entire IoT ecosystem, and the security and smartness have to also permeate together.   

The success of the smart phone industry is majorly due to developers being able to create an ecosystem to build applications that build the open eco system.  Now, that is what the IoT ecosystem needs.  Existing IoT system, gradually can open existing systems to application developers.  What is key here is that it creates a continuous platform for the existing systems to open up gradually, while there are security systems that are built around it.

In addition to application interfaces, it is important to provide data interfaces that are open as well.  Now application and data interfaces being open means that they interact, and no more isolated, they are vulnerable to both developers, and as well as hackers.   Thus as the need to open up increases, the potential threat to the ‘open systems’ increase.  Now add the number of devices that will join the main stream Internet.  

The biggest challenge is how the existing ‘security technology providers’ react.  We will discuss the ‘IOT security ecosystem’ in our next blog.

Ref: Internet of Things: Converging Technologies for Smart Environments …  edited by Ovidiu Vermesan, Peter Friess