Nearly four decades ago, programmers at Carnegie Mellon University came to a decision. Dismayed by treks to an often dysfunctional Coke machine, they installed micro-switches and connected the machine to the internet and a departmental computer. A program allowed them to see if the machine was stocked and the bottles chilled. Amazingly, this event served as the first Internet of Things (IoT) device. Today, active IoT device connections are expected to reach 9.9 billion globally, and with a potential to double in size over the next five years. Gartner says enterprise and automotive IoT will grow to 5.8 billion in 2020, with the utilities industry leading the way for most IoT endpoints.
Another source expects IoT technology spending will reach an astronomical $1 trillion by 2020.4 After experiencing explosions with cloud and mobile computing, IoT represents yet another technology challenge in our digitally transformed world. And like every fledgling technology, IoT will be challenged – for both legitimate reasons and motives from the dark side. In this paper, we’ll discuss IoT security and discover how vulnerable you are to hacks. Is IoT a breeding ground for cyberattacks? We’ll also look at the implications for user and data security, and what you can do to secure your organization.
