by iOmy
Posted on November 03, 2017 at 9:45am
The Internet of Things(IoT) has been quite exciting in recent years. Many startups and major brands are betting on its growth for success. Those who invested in the IoT market are already beginning to see efforts pay off. Things such are wearable fitness devices, smart thermostats, and many other devices are now mainstream. With even more industries hoping onto the IoT market, many believe this sector is poised for greatness. In fact, it is estimated that there will be over 20 billion IoT devices by 2020. However, that does not mean it is going to be smooth sailing. There are some challenges, which we have experienced over the years. Here are a few of them:
Deciding on the Device Capabilities
One of the significant issues makers of devices for the IoT platform is the capabilities each device should have. There are numerous technologies and skills for the IoT platform being developed on a regular basis. When coming up with these devices, we must ask ourselves what technologies can be included in these devices. The challenge of what capabilities extends all the way back to makers of IoT things. Most of them are still struggling to ful fill the demands that these devices present. There is a real risk of tools that are suited for a typical home or office without understanding the unique requirements of each home or office. Thus, it is essential for manufacturers of these devices to understand the individual needs of the end users.
Data Privacy
In the post-Snowden era, everyone is a bit wary of the IoT. The reason for this is that these devices have the potential to gather vast amounts of information. Thus, a single security breach has the potential todo a lot of harm. Recently, the appeals court gave a ruling, which stated that firms, which have lax security, could be sued. Many companies globally are creating laws to protect their citizens from the potential privacy concerns that IoT presents as it becomes widespread. The good news is that there is already technology in place to address some of the privacy concerns. For instance, there is end-to-end encryption technology that is quite effective. Besides that, there exists token-based authentication suited to IoT applications.
Security
The Internet has always been an insecure place although that has improved over the years. However, the IoT presents a new challenge for keeping everyone secure.
IoT security has become a significant challenge for these devices. The main reason for this is that many industrial designers assumed that devices would be secure due
to their isolation. In fact, this thinking has not changed for many manufacturers. Not many of them foresaw an era where devices such as televisions would be connected to the Internet.
There is thus a significant risk of Wild West-like environment when it comes to IoT security.
Also since the industry is growing so fast, most companies are rushing to place products on the market without thinking about how secure they are. In recent years,
there have been scary incidents of things such as refrigerators being hacked by amateurs. However, one of the terrifying hacks has to be that of a jeep that was going
at 70 miles per hours. While how secure the software is, has traditionally received a lot of attention, securing the individual Internet of Things needs to receive more care.
In most cases, people do not even realise the device itself has the potential to be hacked remotely. However, there are already many tools available that can be used to
secure home automation devices. If you work with credible companies that have been working on how to secure these devices, you can minimise these problems.
The primary emphasis should be on pro actively securing the home automation devices themselves. In fact, there is already technology out that can be used to keep the
individual devices secure. One of the ways to achieve home automation security is the use of open source software and devices. One of the benefits of using open source
home automation technology is that the security auditing is usually quite robust.
The use of open source home automation security enables quality assurance experts, developers, and independent researchers to conduct audits on how secure the devices
and software are. They can perform tests at multiple levels including the system and its source code. Hence it leads to a more comprehensive analysis of potential threats
and offers the best level of transparency. Like with any other open source projects, a community of experts identifies vulnerabilities on the open source IoT platform.
Since many large companies utilise open source, there is always a team of experts working to identify problems on the open source IoT platform to find vulnerabilities
before hackers. For a platform built by a single vendor, it is not likely there will be many people working to secure the platform. Instead, it is the small security
department of the vendor tasked with identifying any vulnerability.
Limited Knowledge of Available Solutions
As with most new technologies, most people stay on the sidelines and watch how the technology evolves. The main reason for this is that many of these new technologies are usually quite time-consuming. While there are many options available today, these are expected to contract in coming years as the industry stabilises. It will make it much easier to understand the options on offer.
There are no Standards
Interoperability is a significant issue in IoT. The main reason for this is the lack of standards or immature standards. The other problem is that there are numerous standards being used and a single standard has not become dominant.
Summary
For those thinking of using IoT, some of the challenges they are likely to encounter are those mentioned above. However, there are numerous solutions in the market. Some of these solutions can be found at iomy. Here you will find some of the answers that we think you require for flawless home automation
