The demand for IoT devices is on the rise, and that means it’s more important than ever for developers to take cyber security seriously.

If you haven’t already heard of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, you are sure to hear a lot about them in 2018. In fact, business leaders and tech experts are saying these devices will be the biggest technological trend of the year.

IoTs can be found in almost everything these days including cars, medical devices, appliances, street lights, and wearable technologies. It’s safe to say these devices have become part of our everyday lives, and although they make our lives easier in a lot of ways, the massive volume of information being collected and shared by these devices should be concerning.

These IoT devices have the capacity to collect data from virtually every moment of your day.

IoT devices are more common than you might think.

From the moment you wake up in the morning and your smart coffee maker starts to brew your coffee, to the moment you use your smart toothbrush before heading to bed. Your smart speaker remembers your favourite station, and your fridge reminds you when you’re out of milk. Data is even collected from your children’s smart toys! It’s easier than ever before to learn a thing or two about a person by the data collected from their IoT devices.

Some, but not all organizations, are collecting, storing, and analyzing this data. Organizations are then using this data to increase the efficiency of marketing efforts by using their findings to cut costs and make smarter business decisions. Although beneficial to marketers and IoT developers, this collection of data could spell bad news for consumers.

Despite the rapid growth in this industry, IoT technologies are still in their infancy, and thus have a number of issues that need to be addressed; security and privacy concerns are among the most important. To stay compliant with regulatory mandates, and to ensure trust is maintained with customers and companies, data must be protected and secured.

To ensure data protection, security concerns must be addressed at a development level, rather than reactively addressed. If you are thinking it’s time to enter the world of IoT, or have already developed an IoT device, it’s important to uphold responsible data practices. As such, check out these security tips for IoT devices in the development stage.

Protect Your Assets

There are plenty of things to consider before launching a device.

Who owns the data your collecting?

What can you do with that data?

Can you sell the data or is that a breach of privacy?

Depending on the device, data can be collected and stored through different avenues. For example, some consumers may elect to share data with the company or a third party. Regardless of where the data comes from, it’s important to lay out what will happen to that information and who it will be shared with. Transparency is key here, and it should be outlined whether or not the information will stay within the company or sold to a third party.

IoT data management is an important aspect in maintaining consumer security and integrity.

Many cars can track driver behaviour, and customers can choose to share that data with their insurance carriers. But should that information be shared with police after every minor incident? Create a solid plan, inform your users about their rights, and explain what will happen with their information.

Develop Trust Policies

Creating consistencies with your IoT policies and strategies is a great way to develop trust with customers and clients. For customers who opt in, you can use the IoT to create a constant feedback loop that can help boost product innovation, enhance interactions, and build on customer loyalty. This loop can be created through automatic promotions, updates, and access to special features.

Balancing privacy and security is the first step for policy implementation. Choose to adopt sophisticated data and analysis strategies for using IoT devices.

Manage Risk

Modern security practices follow a risk-based approach that considers both the ease of an attack, and the resulting impact should it happen. But, IoT devices require much tighter security protocols. With IoT, a successful attack could lead to a massive industrial accident, injury, or loss of life, depending on the type of device. A system can’t simply shut down if an attack occurs.

The risk lays in the developers hands, and any failure in security means the company will be fully accountable for the results. It’s important to maintain control of the device and the security features. It’s best to have security features you need or that are “open,” so you can analyze and understand how they work.

Using blockchain technology is a great way to manage risk and secure your device. Technological companies, such as buglab, work to find vulnerabilities through contests, where white hat hackers penetrate a device before the bad guys have a chance to hack it. By doing this, they are able to limit potential damage and risks while finding viable solutions for the vulnerabilities.

Limit Device-to-Device Communications

It’s a common misconception for people to think IoT devices communicate with lots of other devices, which can increase the risk of a cyber breach, and result in a hacker taking over a substantial portion of your IoT infrastructure. Not all IoT devices are interconnected to other devices, many have a single purpose and the data they collect is sent to a single location.

If your device does not need to be connected to other devices, elect to limit the number of IoT devices that talk to each other. By doing this, the device can become more secure and limit the damage should a breach occur.

IoT devices have little security and are virtually unprotected. They don’t run on standard operating systems that support commonly used information technology security tools. They simply don’t have enough memory for them.

With IoT devices, you’re always connected, and that’s not always a good thing.

Since IoT devices are always connected and virtually unsecure, they make for a perfect opportunity for cyberattackers. Luckily, technologies are emerging and helping to secure these devices, including blockchain.

According to Datafloq, this peer-to-peer approach used in blockchain would also “eliminate single points of failure, creating a more resilient ecosystem for devices to run on. The cryptographic algorithms used by Blockchains, would make consumer data more private.”

At the end of the day, it’s important to choose a security method that is specifically designed for IoT devices, and it’s important to ensure effective security measures are implemented right from the early days of development. Although seemingly tedious, both you and your IoT device users will be thankful for the security prelim prep.

About Buglab

The buglab solution detects and remedies vulnerabilities on various business applications, websites, mobile applications, IoT devices , and smart contracts by transforming penetration test services into challenges, referred to as contests, for a community of independent information security consultants with certified qualifications.

The buglab project is moving towards implementing blockchain capabilities, so be sure to sign up for our newsletter for project updates. In the meantime, follow the buglab team on Telegram, Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.