Security and Hacking concerns for IoT Devices

in #iot6 years ago

In a recent interview with CNBC, Sen. Mark Warner voiced concerns regarding the security of devices connected to the internet, know as IoT.  

“The challenge has been so far is the devices makers on the higher end are happy to help, but if somebody is selling a cheap appliance or a cheap sensor and it costs $10 or $15, they don’t want to spend the extra $0.15 or $1 to put in basic security,” Warner said to CNBC. 

This is a real concern as Gartner predicts the number of connected devices globally is estimated at around 11.2 billion by the end of 2018, growing to 20.4 billion by 2020. 

 According to CNBC, there are close to 40 billion Americans who already own smart speakers and listening devices. 31 percent of smart speaker owners want their virtual assistants to control other devices in their home such as devices in the living room or kitchen.  A trend that will grow sooner rather than later.

 Read the full article here.  

It was recently highlighted that 15,000 internet-connected devices (IoT) could be hacked to mine approximately $1000 worth of cryptocurrency within 4 days. 

 Read full article here.  

So, what exactly is IoT?

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a collective name for hardware devices linked to the internet from high-level devices such as smartphones to very simple devices like a kitchen device or a sensor.The IoT market has been on an upward trend for the last few years and started to grow exponentially in 2017 and there are IoT projects ongoing from “Smart Agriculture” to “Smart Cities”. 

With the advent of blockchain technology, IoT and the blockchain could be a match made in Heaven –

 Read more here 

There is no doubt that the world’s devices will become more connected to the internet.  The overall IoT market is projected to be worth more than one billion U.S. dollars annually from 2017 onwards and, another prediction by Gartner is that 95% of all new products will contain IoT and that by 2022.  The three pillars of IoT are connectivity, data, and security. 

An Internet of Things (IoT) White Paper has been released explaining hacking vulnerability and solutions.  More information – Click Here