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IoT Security in the Common Framework

BJNGeustyn — Sun, 04 Oct 2020 12:07:47 +0000

The Internet of Things (IoT) has entered the home. As cloud technology continues to expand its market reach, cloud-based applications are starting to make waves in the consumer market. Combined with a market of industry-specific platforms already in use, it’s clear the future of digital integration into everyday life will come from IoT developments.

The development and implementation of IoT-based products is anything but a risk-free zone. Plenty of risks abound, especially in terms of security. The more people using IoT devices, there needs to be a clearly defined process in place to ensure the quality of products and a surveillance protection policy is in place.

With a robust security infrastructure in place, hacking and other forms of cybercrime can be prevented.

Setting standards and norms is difficult in every industry, as it requires a set of objective standards and strong third-party intervention. In IoT, security framework is particularly challenging because so few standards have been set.

In traditional IT such as firewalls, switches, and routers, new products are subject to Common Criteria (CC) evaluation. Under CC, companies can list the security functional requirements (SFRs) within a security target. Since every product can be designed differently, and new products are always being developed.

This is the framework traditional IT and cloud companies must work through to gain security accreditation for any new products, or new product updates. Although it is a tedious system, it does provide strong third-party security standards.

Smart TVs and CC Framework

It is only within the last few years that IoT companies have been passing through the CC framework successfully. In 2016, Samsung achieved an Evaluated Assurance Level (EAL) 1 for their Smart TV. Then in April of 2017, LG took a step further and achieved an EAL 2 for their Smart TV product. The company published a study detailing its certification process, and here are two important takeaways:

Step 1: Operational Capacity

It’s the company’s responsibility to show with adequate proof that their product is resistant to malware or external attack. LG put the software underlying Smart TV through a series of tests to show its operational capacity.

Step 2: Security Requirements

In the absence of PPs for the Smart TV, LG created security targets based on similar PPs, for kernel, mobile device, Digital Rights Management (DRM), and the application of Smart TV.

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IoT Security

BJNGeustyn — Tue, 22 Sep 2020 19:48:44 +0000

What’s the Future of IoT Security for Businesses?

If you are new to IoT please take a look at the following link for a basic info on IoT ….. Click here

What is IoT security?

IoT security is the protection of Internet of Things devices. While many of us have been taught as business owners that they need to protect computers, tablets and phones with antivirus software, the security risks related to IoT devices are less well known and their protection is often neglected.

Let’s look at it from a bigger picture

IoT carries potential to change the world for the better. Projections by Mckinsey for the impact of IoT on the Internet and the global economy are impressive, forecasting explosive growth of up to 43 Billion by 2023 in the number of IoT devices and their use in a wide variety of new and exciting applications. So this is where the importance of IoT security comes in. Poorly secured IoT devices and services can serve as entry points for cyberattacks.

However, given the Internet global reach and impact, it is critical that its security be addressed.

What IoT security should you implement?

A shared set of definitions and benchmarks around the security of Internet-connected devices.
Shared guidelines implementation from a management level to ensure the security of Internet-connected devices over their lifespan, including the development, communications, and management processes are set forth from implementation to maintenance stages.
Amend relevant policies, technical data and processes requirements for contractors and behavioral aspects (for instance generic passwords)
Approach and collaborate with organizations focusing on IoT security and privacy in an attempt to reduce the amount risks.

Guideline principal’s checklist:

No universal passwords for example password123
Ensure that your contractor, IT department and head of IoT work hand-in-hand on secure encryption. Data should only ever be transmitted and stored securely using strong encryption.
Data collection should be only what is necessary for a device to function and data dashboard analytics.
Ensure devices are capable of receiving security updates.
In the event that a device is removed, sold or scrapped the device should be reset and all data removed prior to being discarded.

How to ensure you cover the basics of IoT Security?

Before buying a product:

Enquire and understand how the device collects and uses the data.
Only purchase reputable products from confirmed manufacturers that adhere to international standards.
No extra functionality – if you don’t need specific data to be collected, don’t use that specific function – lessens risks
Consider the lifecycle and the support availability – spending a bit more and having a SLA in place for this will only cover your bases long run.

When in use:

Always stick to the best practices set forth by the relevant IT team that supports your company.
Ensure that the updates is stipulated in your SLA.
It is truly only as strong as it’s weakest link in a chain, ensure that all devices are secured.

IoT Security, Internet of things and Building Automation Solutions, Making Buildings Work Smarter

Leave a comment if you would like for us to elaborate a bit more, or if you have a question!

Please note: This post contains affiliate links, meaning I recommend their product and or services I’ve used. We may receive a discount or small commission should you choose to purchase from them via the relevant link here-under (this is at no additional cost to you)

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What is IoT Internet of things? Explained what you should know

BJNGeustyn — Sat, 12 Sep 2020 16:28:18 +0000

 5/5

The actual term “Internet of Things” was coined by Kevin Ashton in 1999 during his work at Procter & Gamble. Ashton who was working in supply chain optimization, wanted to attract senior management's attention to a new exciting technology called RFID

Summery

A bit of history
Examples today
What is Iot
Why it’s important
Pro’s and Cons
Iot vs IoE and M2M
To sum it up, best definition

What is the history of the Internet of Things?

Almost as soon as the phrase IoT (Internet of things) was coined by Kevin Ashton an ecosystem started up combining a multitude of systems technology in to one term.

The idea of adding intelligence to basic objects was discussed throughout the 1980s and 1990s. But technology wasn’t ready. Let’s be honest we are either old enough or we’ve been told that “When I was your age ……. Computers were the size of our living room”. Spares, parts and chips were too big and bulky and there was no way for objects to communicate effectively.

The Internet of Things is making the fabric of the world around us work smarter not harder and more responsive, merging the digital and physical universes.

Some well-known examples for Internet of Things applications today are:

Amazon Echo and Google Home
Wearable devices/fitness trackers (e.g., Jawbone Up, Fitbit, Pebble)
Automation Systems (Examples: Niagara N4 Workbench, Cisco, Honeywell and more..)
Smart energy meters

What is the Internet of Things?

IoT, refers to the billions of physical devices and systems around the world that can be connected to each other and the internet, all collecting and sharing data. Consisting of web-enabled smart devices that use embedded systems, such as processors and communication hardware, to collect, send and act on data they acquire from their environments.

IoT devices share the sensor data they collect by connecting to an IoT gateway or other edge device where data is either sent to the cloud to be analyzed or analyzed locally. Even though devices do most of the work without human intervention, they still need to be programmed and set up via various protocols to be able to interact and access the relevant data and instructions

Thanks to the arrival of affordable systems, hardware and wireless networks, it’s possible to turn almost anything, from smart homes interactions like alarm systems to something as big as a data center generator monitoring, into a part of the IoT.

Why IoT is important?

IoT enables companies to automate processes and reduce costs. Connecting the different objects and adding systems controls to them adds a level of digital intelligence to devices that would be otherwise manually controlled.

Enabling them to communicate real-time data. Most companies will use Digital dashboards or Analytics dashboards to present this info in real time statistics. Human error especially in larger Building Automation systems could cause large scale costs to be incurred.

As such, IoT is one of the most important technologies of everyday life, and it will continue to pick up steam as more businesses realize the potential of connected devices to keep them competitive.

How big is the Internet of Things?

The term and technology get bigger every day. Currently there are already more connected things than people in the world.

Gartner, predicts that the enterprise and automotive sectors will account for 5.8 billion devices this year, up almost a quarter on 2019. Utilities will be the highest user of IoT, thanks to the continuing roll out of smart meters. Security devices, in the form of intruder detection and web cameras will be the second biggest use of IoT devices. Building automation – like connected lighting – will be the fastest growing sector, followed by automotive (connected cars) and healthcare (monitoring of chronic conditions). If you would like to read more on this forecast methodology click here.

Pros and cons of IoT

Some of the advantages of IoT include the following:

The ability to access information from anywhere at any time on any device;
Improved communication between connected electronic devices;
automating tasks helping to improve the quality of a business’s services and reducing the need for human intervention.
Real live data on dashboards to review costs via analytics dashboards

Some disadvantages of IoT include the following:

They are still devised that have to be integrated and told what to do
As the number of connected devices increases and more information is shared between devices, the potential that the systems can be corrupted by not being set up correctly increases

Thankfully most of the hardware hitting the market is being setup to be open source making it possible for multiple protocols to “speak” to each other.

What are the benefits of the Internet of Things for consumers?

Making our homes and offices smarter, more measurable makes our lives easier. Smart speakers like Amazon’s Echo and Google Home make it easier to play music, set timers, or get information.

Smart buildings and offices can, for instance, reduce energy costs using sensors that detect how many occupants are in a room. The temperature can adjust automatically via the building automation system, turning the air conditioner (centralized Hvac) on if sensors detect a conference room is full or turning the heat down if everyone in the office has gone home.

IoT vs IoE vs M2M vs Others

So “Internet of Things” is the most popular description describing this new Interconnected world.

In later posts we will talk about the next concepts, the ecosystem is so large we can keep you reading for hours.

IoT and other terms that have been proposed but don’t mean exactly all the same are

Machine to machine communication M2M
Web of Things
Industry 4.0
Industrial internet (of Things)
Smart systems
Smart home systems
Intelligent systems

So to sum it up, loosely put .. what would be the best definition?

McKinsey short definition appears quite logic:

“Sensors and actuators embedded in physical objects are linked through wired and wireless networks, often using the same Internet Protocol (IP) that connects the Internet.“

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