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Question:
Internet of Things is related with the concept of computerizing the devices that are used in everyday life. These are devices like thermostats to automatically detect the weather condition and control he room temperature, automated light, cars and refrigerators. Soon all the devices would be connected to each other via the internet and they can be controlled from anywhere (Tankard 2015). These devices generally contain two parts; one part contains the sensor that collects the data of the local environment and the other part works according to the collected data. There are many problems or risks associated with the Internet of things (IoT), more than about 70% of the Internet of Things devices are vulnerable and prone to attacks from the hackers (Miorandi et al. 2012). The hackers can intrude into the system and tamper the sensor and reduce the performance of the device.
The essay discusses about the security in the Internet of Things (IoT) and identifies the risk associated with the use of the IoT devices. A detail analysis is done on the identified risk of using the IoT devices. New improved methods can be applied to mitigate this risk and secure the user from losing his information and being misused.
The main problem associated with the IoT is that it is highly insecure and there is no possible solution to patch this device. The IoT devices can be misused by the hackers and there are many ways a hacker can intrude into the home router system, smart television, web cameras or even a fitness band (Lee et al. 2016). The intruder can know the exact location of the person using the device. Previously during the 1990s the flaws of the device were not disclosed by the company to limit the attack and it releases the security updates lately. The released updates are very hard to install for the user but now the things have changed and there is advancement in technology (Bedi et al. 2016). The vulnerability of the devices is identified soon by the user ad the company is forced to issue to release the updated security patch and the patches are installed automatically on the destination source. There are some devices where the problem cannot be fixed with software updates.
There are some traditional risks associated with the IoT devices for example surfing internet on the Smart television and purchasing items using the web browser on the TV can put the transmitted data on risk (Jing et al. 2014). The sensitive information of the customer like the debit card, credit card details can be hacked by the hackers and the identity of the user may be on risk (Wang et al. 2013) (refer to appendix 1 for the detailed diagram). Computing worms can also be imposed on the IoT devices for example “Linux.Daroll” worm can be targeted on the computers and small IoT devices and it attempts a brute force access to the ID and password of the user. On gaining the access to the ID it downloads the worm and the machine searches for the next target. Thus installing more number of devices with the internet access increases the risk.
There may be a situation of “Multipoint of Vulnerability” in the security of IoT devices. This describes the fact of including embedded software and data in the device, data aggression platform, data centres for analysing the sensor data and communication channels (Lee et al. 2014). It is a serious challenge faced by the company to provide security to these devices. To secure this device multiple new features should be implemented to the system like management of the user account, isolation of account and network, increased use of secure protocols for the transmission of the data, management of antivirus and firewall.
There are consumers who use different products connected with powerful processor but in some cases this devices are impractical as the devices sometimes have no display to interact with the user or low battery capacity (Miorandi et al. 2012). If a device connected in the network is vulnerable to security attack then it also facilitates attack to the whole network device connected in the network (Gubbi et al. 2013). The intruder if get access to a weak device connected in the network then it is easy for him to breach the whole network. The devices used as an IoT mostly communicate with each other wirelessly which is often unprotected.
The following are the identified issues that are required to be fixed to solve the security issues (refer to appendix 2 for the detailed diagram).
Unauthorised access to the IoT devices is the major challenge faced by the smart device against any physical attack. It is easy for the hackers to access the unattended IoT devices and perform noxious activities like capturing the content and extract the cryptographic secrets using sophisticated programming that can decode the cipher script (Heo 2015). The devices that are built manually and have the permission to access the user login information are more vulnerable to the unauthorized access. For example the wall charger of Microsoft device can crack the Microsoft wireless keyboard and send the data acquired wirelessly to the attackers (Niu et al. 2016). Moreover, insulin pumps can be accessed remotely by the hacker to deliver high dose of insulin that can cause death of the patient.
The smart home meter used for saving energy can be accessed remotely by the hacker to ensure that the owner of the house is absent or present in home.
The IoT devices used should have greater processing power that is a powerful processor should be used that can support different encryptions for the transmission of the data (Lee et al. 2014). There are many devices that do not support encryption and are more vulnerable to the attacks and thus new alternative technique should be developed using which encryption may be applied. The devices are not always configured that directly communicates with the internet and the default settings are kept (Roman et al. 2013). Thus is make it easy for the hackers to intrude into the device through the access point, therefore confining system access, impairing as a matter of course insignificant functionalities, and non-utilization of untrusted programming and redesign sources will add to narrowing down the assaulting surface open for information ruptures.
The IoT devices connected in the network should be updated and patched after a certain interval of time to make the device immune against any sophisticated cyber attacks. As the device grows older they are more vulnerable to cyber attacks and thus the devices should be updated regularly and the flaws should be identified and resolved immediately to restrict the attacks (Tang 2016). There are problems regarding the low end devices which are manufactures by small scale firms with inexpensive chips. The company leaves the consumer after a certain time and stop giving updates and security patch to the device. There may be another problem that the company cannot deliver the update of the software automatically the user need to download the update and apply it manually to fix the problem. The user may not be aware of the update and some of them may face problem to install the update and thus leaving the device vulnerable to the cyber attack.
In the first place, the IoT devices are frequently manufactured by the small scale consumer goods manufacturing company and not by PC hardware and programming business organization. The small scale industry developing the IoT devices have less experience regarding the hardware and the software of the device (Bedi et al. 2016). Thus they don’t know that they have properly secured the product or not and there are many flaws in the system from where the intruders can get into the device. Designing the IoT device and securing it from any cyber attack requires multiple skills and examine of the final product.
The new industry that has limited experience might not identify the security risk but in case of the experienced manufacturer they might face problem to adopt themselves with the emerging technology and new device developed (Lee et al. 2016). The security may not be the primary target of the industry building the IoT devices. For example a network connected refrigerator may be viewed as a simple refrigerator by the IoT manufacturers.
Most of the Internet of Things device uses a chip and once they are delivered to the user their flaws cannot be fixed using any software so there is a need to do engineering before the shipment of the final product. Most of the manufacturers of the chips are busy in upgrading their product and they pay less attention to their older manufactured device. Patching is important because as the system grows older more security issues are found in the system the manufactures sometimes don’t release any update or patch for their product leaving the product vulnerable to attacks. Thus it is recommended that IoT devices must be built with experienced technical experts who can identify the flaws in the system and give proper solution for the mitigation of the flaws. New innovation is necessary to be applied in the IoT devices but they should be properly managed and support should be given to the devices.
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Wang, Z., Qian, H.Y., Wang, J.Y., Gao, S. and Xu, Y.G., 2013. Novel IOV worm model and its corresponding hybrid anti-worm strategy in expressway interchange terminal. Journal of Central South University, 20, pp.1259-1268.MyAssignmenthelp.co.uk is a name in assignment writing services that students trust. We offer our assignment writing services for a wide variety of assignment including essays, dissertations, case studies and more. Students can place their order with us anytime as we function 24x7, and get their copies at unbeatable prices. We guarantee that all of our solutions are plagiarism-free.
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