The rapid growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) and its deployment are raising several high-end expectations around the world. Along with this IoT rapid growth across the globe, there is a growing concern about the overall security of IoT devices and applications. Even after major security concerns and breaches, leading corporations and individuals are purchasing and deploying advanced IoT devices. The main idea behind utilizing advanced interconnected devices is the increased convenience and ease of life that IoT delivers. With ever-increasing demands, the IoT industry is expected to expand to around 20.4 billion devices by 2020. Businesses are expected to invest around $134 billion every year through 2022 on IoT-based devices and applications.
However, with the rise of these interconnected devices, there is an increased threat to the overall security of the devices. This leads to a rise in IoT device and application vulnerabilities. The security of the interconnected devices is not going to improve soon. Experts have issued warnings about these security concerns for several years. However, the number of cybersecurity threats is only increasing every year. No one seems to be listening to the real problem.
A leading security researcher, Denis Makrushin, from Kaspersky Lab claims that IoT related security issues were demonstrated last year numerous times. This year’s problems have only increased in numbers and complexity.
A disturbing fact that is that despite the security concerns issued by experts, there are over 8.4 billion IoT interconnected devices available in the global market. This has become a major concern especially in the form of security vulnerabilities in older devices. So now that technology industry experts around the world are addressing these security concerns in new products and services, the legacy IoT devices are proving the most problematic. A case in point revealed this legacy IoT issue when the researchers at Kaspersky Lab discovered security vulnerabilities that affected robots in shopping malls, gas pumps, and smart security cameras used in businesses and homes.
The revelation with respect to the presence of major security vulnerabilities did not end with the gas pumps and robots. Other research panels detailed how IoT applications used in yachts, cars, hospital technology could be easily hacked. The single common thread towards determining this significant security flaw has been the legacy devices, not the new IoT-based gadgets and appliances being deployed currently.
The threat about such security vulnerabilities is that cybercriminals and hackers are finding these flaws and leveraging them to their advantage. Organizations must make updating legacy IoT devices a top priority.
