Biggest IoT Security Challenges

Internet of Things (IoT) adoption has expanded dramatically in recent years. “Smart” devices have numerous potential applications and benefits to consumers and companies alike. For example, IoT devices can increase operational efficiency by enabling centralized monitoring and management of manufacturing equipment, critical infrastructure, or remote sites.

However, with this increased convenience also comes significant security risks and challenges. IoT devices are notorious for their poor security out of the box, and connecting these devices to the corporate network risks data breaches and exposing other corporate resources to cyberattacks. IoT security is essential if organizations want to enjoy the benefits of IoT devices while managing the associated security risks.

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The Importance of IoT Security

Put simply, IoT devices are computers with the ability to collect and process large amounts of sensitive information. For example, IoT devices may include cameras, networked medical devices, industrial control systems (ICS), printers, and a wide range of other devices. The data that these devices can access must be protected against potential exposure.

Additionally, IoT devices can pose a risk to their owners and others. An insecure IoT device can be used to gain a foothold on an organization’s network and enable an attacker to move laterally behind their defenses. IoT devices can also be conscripted into botnets to perform distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, credential stuffing, and other automated attacks. IoT security can help to secure IoT devices and reduce the cybersecurity risks that they pose.

Top 5 IoT Security Challenges To Address

As mentioned earlier, IoT devices commonly come out of the box with basic security, making them an ideal target for attack and a serious security weakness for their owners. Some common security challenges for IoT devices include:

Weak Authentication: IoT devices are notorious for their use of weak and default passwords. Several large botnets, such as Mirai, infected many devices simply by logging in using default and hardcoded passwords.
Data Encryption: IoT devices commonly collect large amounts of sensitive data, but they don’t always protect it properly. For example, IoT devices frequently fail to encrypt data stored on devices or traveling over the network.
Vulnerable Software: IoT device creators do not always follow development security best practices, including the use of reputable and updated libraries. These issues are exacerbated by the fact that IoT devices are often difficult to patch, leaving vulnerabilities exposed for exploitation.
Insecure Protocols: IoT devices often use insecure network interfaces and protocols. For example, some IoT devices allow connections via Telnet, which exposes credentials and other data in plaintext on the network.
Lack of Standardization: One of the main contributors to weak IoT security is the lack of security standards and requirements. For IoT devices, most security standards are optional recommendations, if they exist at all.

The poor state of IoT security impacts both the device owners and others. IoT devices can be exploited to leak data, grant unauthorized access, or perform various attacks against other systems.

IoT Security Best Practices

Some best practices for managing an organization’s exposure to IoT security risks include the following:

Device Discovery and Risk Analysis: IT teams may be unaware of the existence of IoT devices connected to corporate networks. Automated device discovery can help to identify unknown IoT devices and assess the potential security risks that they pose to the organization.
Zero-Trust Network Access (ZTNA): IoT devices can be used as an access point by cybercriminals who then move laterally through an organization’s systems. ZTNA helps to segment IoT devices from the rest of the network and limits their access, reducing their ability to access sensitive data and other systems.
IoT Threat Prevention: IoT devices can contain exploitable vulnerabilities, but traditional endpoint security solutions often do not work on these devices (e.g., resource constraints, diverse ecosystems, specialized functionality, lack of user interfaces and more). Also, some IoT systems aren’t or can’t be updated by their owners. IoT threat prevention solutions help to prevent attackers from exploiting vulnerabilities in these devices.

IoT Security with Check Point

IoT devices are growing more common on corporate networks, but they often still carry significant security risks. These devices can be exploited to steal data, spread malware, or launch various attacks on an organization and others.

IoT devices differ from traditional IT systems and need security that is tailored to their unique needs. With IoT devices — which commonly contain unpatched vulnerabilities and built-in security risks — a prevention-focused approach to security is essential.

The first step to protecting IoT devices is learning more about the security challenges that they present. Check out this resource on the modern challenges for IoT security. Then, dive deeper with this IDC

report on IoT Challenges and Solutions in 2023.

Check Point offers prevention-focused IoT security solutions designed to address the unique security needs and challenges of IoT devices. To learn more about how Check Point can help your organization with IoT security, sign up for a free IoT demo today.