Everything you wanted to know but were afraid to ask
Let’s start by explaining the common security flaws in a range of IoT connectivity options and detail the potential issues that could crop up over the lifecycle of a device. Once a device is deployed in the field, it is vulnerable to physical attacks as well as threats to its software. To achieve end-to-end security throughout the connection lifecycle, security must be a primary design consideration in IoT devices — as fundamental as any other parameter.
A good connectivity management platform can play a significant role in your security plans. Other important reasons to manage an IoT deployment using a platform include:
- Managing devices across networks and providers at scale is challenging; having a consistent interface and integration allows easier device updates.
- No insight into connectivity status means you do not know if your critical assets have gone offline and whether it’s due to a malfunction, a breach, or some other issue.
- Lack of statistical data and analytics means you don’t know if your asset has overconsumed data and you can’t efficiently identify issues with connections that aren’t functioning correctly.
Seven best practice tips for IoT connectivity security
Here are a few quick recommendations for a secure IoT deployment.
Map your attack surface and derive a threat model: Find out everything you can about your potential vulnerabilities and make a plan.
Control access to trusted networks: Unauthorized devices should not be able to connect to your trusted networks.
Design and build for resiliency: If something goes wrong, you’ll be glad you took the time to ensure your infrastructure was resilient, with back ups as needed.
Ensure end-to-end security: For truly trusted data, you need to protect it from the device, through networks and into your connectivity management platform and the cloud.
Leverage artificial intelligence (AI): Proactive monitoring and alerting of potential threats would be time-consuming to manually implement, so look to AI for help.
Control access to your connectivity management platform: Create a clear policy detailing who has access and what they can do.
Ensure security and privacy compliance: Data protection and government regulations can be a minefield so make sure any vendor or partners are compliant.
