IoT Adopters Still Concerned About Deployment and Security in Their Ecosystem

Private users are not the only ones excited about IoT technology and gadgets in everyday activity the countless growth opportunities in the area. A number of companies, organizations and even public institutions have turned to connected devices to build more sustainable, automated infrastructures, but device reliability, data security delivery and privacy still must still be addressed.

Machine-to-machine communication raises a number of implementation and security concerns for executives, according to a report by Internet of Things World. Even though 66 percent of respondents claim to have C-level endorsement for IoT research and implementation, 34 percent say actual implementation is still a top challenge, followed by security (25%), purchase cost (17%), scalability (10%) and business buy-in (8%).

Nearly half or respondents use a separate network for IoT deployment to contain and reduce risks and secure all data and information transmitted. Almost 70 percent of professionals regularly perform software and firmware updates to protect their ecosystem, while 43 percent check for physical access compromise. IoT infrastructures come at a high security and maintenance cost, but executives believe “small fixes can shore up ecosystem resilience,” writes HelpnetSecurity.

Understanding that, besides vulnerabilities in IoT devices, insider threats expose their infrastructures to attacks, 46 percent will train their employees to deploy the technology and prevent breaches caused by human errors. Companies also want more technical, data analyst skills in their workforce, and 64 percent want to invest in their current employees to fill in such positions.

Like challenges on the consumer side, companies tend to forget about the security landscape, potential threats or lack of security talent to handle all risks. Early adopters of new technology must jump through many hoops to fully benefit from the opportunities a machine, device or platform has to offer. A number of IT professionals now believe traditional security mechanisms are no longer optimal, but only 29 percent say cryptography-based blockchain technology can help overcome security obstacles that come with the dissemination of high volumes of data in real time through dispersed devices.

“Cyber threats come from so many different directions for the modern enterprise,” said Zach Butler, Director of IoT World. “So often the difference between being compromised and being secure is having done the checklist of best practices, like making sure every device has the latest software updates. Our research showed that luckily IoT executives are very aware of this reality.”