We’ve covered the dangers of IoT plenty of times, and how a simple gadget can be used as a landing zone for hackers and malware. Unfortunately, as scary as the world of IoT security is, professionals are a little overconfident that their solutions are foolproof.
How Secure Are These Systems?
This news comes in from a recent Keysight report, that polled companies to see how secure they are. 75% of the polled companies reported that they had suffered at least one attack. 66% believed infected employee devices were the biggest risk, followed closely by external attacks.
57% of security professionals are confident that their security solutions are strong enough to defend their company from harm. This is pretty low as it is, but things get a little worrying when the report goes on to claim that this is an overconfident claim.
The study went on to ask if the company has proof that their security works. There were two aspects the company had to prove; that their security was configured properly, and that it actually defended against threats correctly.
Only 19% of respondents said that they had proof that their security was both configured properly and actually defends itself. 35% said that they could prove the security program was configured correctly, but couldn’t prove that it was working properly. 16% could prove it was operating, but not set up correctly, and 22% couldn’t prove either.
This is what the report means when it claims that security professionals are a little overconfident in their solutions. If 57% of professionals believe that their defenses are up to scratch, but only 19% can actually prove it, then there’s potentially a lot of flaws that have slipped under the radar.
What Does This Mean For IoT?
This news is very worrying for the future of cybersecurity. As we’ve covered before, businesses know that IoT is dangerous; however, they also believe they have to adopt it to keep up with the competition.
With this news that security professionals are confident in their solutions without actually testing them, it’s a sign that businesses are putting themselves in harms way with IoT. That doesn’t even account for the other 43% of businesses who admit they aren’t confident their security solution will work.
If businesses want to adopt IoT to stay ahead of the game, they need a security solution they’re both confident in and can be proved to work. Anything less, and they open themselves up to the potential of data theft or ransomware.
As we’ve seen before, the world of IoT is full of surprises; a smart device that’s “innocuous” and “safe” one day will be used by hackers for nefarious deeds the next. As such, companies can’t bank on a smart bulb or thermostat being “too small to hack;” they need proper security for even the lightest of IoT devices.
A Wake Up Call For IoT
With IoT security hitting the headlines on a regular basis, it’s a hot topic among the technology world. Companies need a proper defense in place if they’re to adopt this new wave of technology; else, the devices they purchase to enhance productivity may end up harming it instead.
Do you think companies should adopt IoT, given the security problems they can introduce? Let us know below.
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