As the number of Internet of Things (IoT) devices in the world grows exponentially, security becomes increasingly critical to businesses. Cybersecurity has emerged as the most necessary form of protection. Businesses need to stay on top of the newest trends to safeguard themselves, their clients, and their intellectual property from cyber attacks and the damage they can cause.
The importance of IoT device security needs to be addressed now, especially with more industries moving to an all-online business model. In the upcoming years, IoT demand will accelerate in ways we can’t quite predict, which is why it’s vital to start plotting and implementing defensive strategies now, to protect yourself and your business before the technology leaves you behind or the threats become too large to manage.
3 Top Trends in IoT Security Right Now
Cybersecurity Mesh
Cybersecurity has gone through many iterations over the last few decades. As a result, the methods for safeguarding against viruses, malware, and cyber-attacks have become swift-moving and are consistently altered to compete with adapting threats.
A common strategy was to build a cybersecurity perimeter around a dominant point and expand it to include all the people and devices inside that perimeter. Today, IoT security experts are taking a different approach with a cybersecurity mesh.
The concept behind a cybersecurity mesh is founded upon the principle that networks have no physical and distinct boundaries. To help counter this challenge, the cybersecurity mesh is defined around a particular person or a thing, such as an employee within a company or an IoT device. As a result, security infrastructure can be built with parameters around access points made up of a larger ecosystem. Another benefit of a cybersecurity mesh is that it allows a business to maintain security at different access levels of the network.
Greater Protection at the Manufacturing-Level
Back in December of 2020, the United States’ IoT Cybersecurity Act was signed into law to help protect IoT devices leveraged by government agencies. This law will help fight against any vulnerabilities that future devices used by the American government may encounter. But, of course, this also means that any non-protected devices will become prohibited.
This legislation was monumental when it was pushed through and has helped the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) create guidelines for the industry. The NIST’s job is to develop new standards around cybersecurity, such as identifying and managing security vulnerabilities, secure development, identity management, patching, and configuration management.
Although these standards only currently apply to devices in the government sector, these new guidelines targeted manufacturers who sell IoT solutions to governments. It may take a while, but this will undoubtedly trickle down to the private sector and lead to stricter security guidelines for all.
Network Security Services
Cybersecurity is one of the most crucial parts when implementing an IoT ecosystem, and we predict that security issues will start to be at the forefront when a new IoT project gets underway. This proactive approach will help make it easier and a lot more inclusive to secure all the components of an IoT stack as it’s being constructed.
But we can’t forget that security is an ongoing process, which is why we will start seeing security as a service become increasingly more popular with IoT adopters.
Securing the IoT infrastructure necessitates targeted strategies that must include protection for:
- Cloud data
- Data devices
- Data integrity
- Any device that is connected to your network or that has the potential to uncover sensitive information that cybercriminals can mine and use.
We Can Help
At Allegro Software, we stay on top of the current trends in IoT security and incorporate them into our security products to better protect your business. We’ll use our proven framework and cutting-edge technology to integrate a proactive security approach across your organization. Contact us today and find out how Allegro Software can keep your IoT devices safe from threats.
Allegro Software, headquartered in Boxborough, Massachusetts, is a leading provider of IoT edge security and connectivity software toolkits to manufacturers worldwide. Field-proven in over 250,000,000 devices, our solutions enable OEMs in the Energy, Healthcare, Medical, Military, Enterprise, and Consumer sectors to create connected, secure devices using TLS, SSH, FIPS and more. Since 1996, Allegro has been at the forefront of leading the evolution of embedded device management, security, and connectivity with its patented embedded web server and security toolkits.
