IoT is infiltrating the business world despite security risks

The boom of the IoT ecosystem is a beautiful thing for many, offering a whole new world of possibilities for enterprises, including new revenue streams and vastly improved efficiency.

 

A new report from Kaspersky shows that IoT implementation is growing throughout a host of industries, with IT and telecoms, perhaps unsurprisingly, at the forefront of IoT adoption, with 71% reporting using these devices within their business. However, other industries’ use of the technology is closing the gap, with hospitality at 63%, healthcare at 66%, and finance at 68% – all these industries saw an increase in IoT usage of around 10% between 2018 and 2019.

 

And the growth is not predicted to stop any time soon. A report from Fortune Business Insights estimated that the IoT device market will reach $1.1 trillion by 2026, with Gartner anticipating 25 billion connected devices by 2025.

 

However, a myriad of new connected devices comes with their own set of challenges, the largest of which is security.

 

Cybersecurity attacks are soaring amidst the IoT boom, seeking to access sensitive business data and customer information. The first half of 2019 saw 105 million attacks on IoT devices coming from 276,000 unique IP addresses, compared to just 12 million in the same timeframe the previous year.

 

Despite this, previous studies have shown that businesses are woefully unaware of the security risks these devices may present. A combined study from the Ponemon Institute and Shared Assessments found that less than 20% of people could accurately identify the majority of their organisation’s IoT devices, with over half not keeping an inventory of their company’s IoT devices. 

 

With the increase in wearables and other personal connected devices that can simply be carried into the office and seek to connect to the internet, it will only become more and more difficult for companies to keep track of their local IoT devices and manage their security risks.

 

The UK government has announced a framework for IoT securiity on the part of device manufacturers, but until laws like this become widely adopted business cybersecurity will need to evolve quickly if it is to keep up with the scale of IoT adoption, or else businesses will find their data compromised before they realise it.  

 

“IoT is a powerful business enabler but to reap its benefits organisations need to put in a considerable amount of effort. It demands dedicated business processes, as well as expertise, to ensure it is effectively implemented,” explained Grigory Sizov, head of KasperskyOS business unit. “As the survey shows, cybersecurity is also a question that needs resolving in the IoT space — in terms of security of equipment, technical and organisational protection measures and data privacy, as well as other factors.”