Why your IoT Systems Need Security Testing?

The Internet of Things or IoT has swept the realm of technology and become mainstream as far as automation is concerned. Its popularity is attributable to features such as communication between machines, easy usage, and the integration of various devices, enabling technologies, and protocols.

When one talks about smart cities, smart transport, smart healthcare, or smart homes, the role of IoT is paramount.  According to Gartner, the number of connected things courtesy IoT is projected to reach 20.8 billion by 2020. Since IoT is about connected products that communicate with each other and share a huge volume of data, it is vulnerable to security breaches. With greater digitization and a rush towards delivering smart devices to add more comfort to people’s lives, businesses may end up keeping their flanks uncovered. The threats related to cybersecurity, besides threatening the smooth functioning of the digital ecosystem, are putting a question mark on the implementation of the IoT ecosystem.

The future is likely to be driven by smart systems with IoT at their core. Since such systems will witness a huge exchange of data, their security needs to be ensured. Also, as the smooth functioning of such smart systems will hinge on the accuracy and integrity of data, enabling IoT security at every step of the way should be the norm. If statistics are to be believed then around 84% of companies adopting IoT have reported security breaches of some kind (Source: Stoodnt.com.) The resident vulnerabilities in such systems are exploited by cybercriminals to exhibit malicious behavior such as committing credit card theft, phishing and spamming, distributed denial of service attacks, and malware distribution, among others.

How to conduct IoT security testing effectively

The security implications of a vulnerable or broken IoT system can be catastrophic for individuals, businesses, and entities. The devices and the transfer of data within them should be monitored by the implementing agency to check for a data breach. The best ways to conduct IoT security is as follow:

Checking of endpoints: As more devices or endpoints are added to expand the network, more vulnerabilities are created. Since IoT systems are built using devices of different configurations, computing and storage power, and running on different versions and types of operating systems, every such device should be evaluated for safety. An inventory of such devices should be made and tracked.

Authentication: Care should be taken that the vendor-supplied default passwords for specific systems should be dealt with at the beginning. If not, these can be exploited by hackers to take control of the IoT ecosystem and wreak havoc. Moreover, every device in the IoT system should be authenticated before being plugged into the network. This should be made an integral part of the internet of things testing.

Firewalls: The firewall present in the network should be tested for its capability of filtering specific data range and controlling traffic. Also, data aimed at terminating the device to ensure its optimal performance should be tested.

Encryption: Since IoT systems transmit data among themselves they should be encrypted for safety. During testing IoT applications the encryption approach and nitty-gritty should be thoroughly checked and validated. If not, then while relaying the location of assets in the IoT system, the information can be easily read by a hacker.

Compliance: Mere testing of IoT devices is not complete unless compliance with standards like FCC and ETSI/CE is carried out. These regulations and standards have been instituted to validate the performance of the IoT devices based on certain parameters. So, any IoT testing approach should take into account compliance with such regulations.

Why IoT systems should undergo security testing?

The smart devices forming part of the IoT system need to undergo IoT testing (security) to:

Prevent data theft: The unsecured endpoints within the system can leave a trail for hackers to strike but for the IoT device testing solutions. The vulnerabilities can be used to break into the controlling mechanism of the system in order to launch more malicious forms of attacks.

Protect brand equity: When scores of companies are competing with each other to get a pie of the IoT market, a security breach or malware attack can put a brand in jeopardy. With IoT penetration testing, such attacks can be pre-empted with the elimination of vulnerabilities and glitches.

Conclusion

The IoT ecosystem is projected to grow at a humongous pace and scale. Technology companies having an integrated IoT security testing approach are likely to earn a huge chunk of the pie. The approach when executed at regular intervals should be able to help enterprises achieve growth across domains.  

The Criticality of IoT Penetration Testing for a Remote Workforce

The Internet of Things (IoT) is gradually transforming the way people go about their daily chores or how enterprises conduct their activities. It is the harbinger of everything ‘smart’ the world is aspiring for. The days are not far when IoT can make science fiction a reality to a great extent. It improves efficiency, productivity, comfort, convenience, responsiveness, and management, besides reducing cost and waste. The Internet of Things has the capability to transform homes and offices and help create islands of efficiency amidst the presence of legacy systems. The IoT revolution is mostly visible in the way employees of enterprises have been using the IoT-enabled devices remotely to connect with their offices.

Today’s employees who are wont to bring their digital devices like laptops, tablets or smartphones to offices have graduated to bringing IoT-enabled devices like e-readers, wearables, game consoles, or even smart printers and coffee makers. Even if these devices have given convenience and efficiency a new meaning, they bring with them a new set of challenges involving cybersecurity. If earlier the security teams at offices were tasked with securing the company’s assets and the devices brought by employees, today, the challenge is formidable. In the new IoT-enabled ecosystem, security teams have to deal with devices they are not used to handling earlier. These include coffee makers, smartwatches, fitness trackers, and remotes, among others. Thus, the IoT-enabled devices may have attendant security concerns that many enterprises are not prepared to deal with. And if left on their own, these devices can play havoc in the day and age of cybercrime.

The present BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) protocol being run at enterprises needs to be scaled up to include the advent of IoT-enabled devices. So, let us understand how organizations can strengthen their security systems to ensure the safety of IoT devices for a remote workforce. This calls for conducting stringent IoT testing across the digital landscape.

The value of IoT security and how IoT security testing is the key

A study by Gartner, the global research and advisory firm, states that the number of IoT-enabled devices is likely to cross 20 billion by 2020. With the increased integration of IoT into people’s lives, there will be a greater dependence on such devices to derive data and draw inferences from the same. However, this also increases the security risk from such devices - for individuals, groups, enterprises, organizations, and entities. The risks can be varied and annoying. For example, cybercriminals can break into an IoT ecosystem and capture the video feeds as well as block access to the real users of such feeds. Also, in radiation monitoring devices, cybercriminals can exploit any inherent vulnerability to target critical infrastructure. The field of medicine is one potential area where IoT has made rapid ingress with smart wearables to monitor critical parameters. Again, the lack of security testing here can give a long rope to cybercriminals to make good with sensitive patient related data.

To pre-empt cybercriminals from wreaking havoc on the IoT and connected ecosystem, enterprises should put increased focus on IoT penetration testing. This way they can identify the vulnerabilities or glitches within such systems and fix them. For a remote workforce dependent on the successful performance of such devices, stringent IoT testing can take care of any potential security issue.

What is IoT penetration testing?

In this type of testing, an assessment is made on the usage of various components within an IoT-enabled device to make it safer. However, given that such devices have numerous interfaces with third-party devices or software suites, it is indeed challenging to plan an all-encompassing IoT testing approach for devices with so many end-points.

Benefits of IoT device testing

Testing IoT applications, especially through pen testing can have a host of benefits for enterprises.

Strengthening device security: The vulnerabilities within devices can be identified and fixed. Thus, the machinations of cybercriminals can be nipped in the bud and sensitive information safeguarded.

Prevention of unauthorized usage: IoT devices should have multiple layers of security to prevent any unauthorized usage. However, glitches within such devices can be exploited to gain access to sensitive or critical areas or databases causing data breach or worse, endangering the critical systems controlled by such devices.

Eliminating elevation of privileges: The usage of IoT devices in organizations comes with a layered approach having a proper distribution of privileges. At each level, the person entrusted with deriving data and insights from such devices has access that is not available to everyone. This ensures the device continues to function seamlessly and generate the necessary outcomes required of it. However, the lack of IoT security testing can allow cybercriminals to exploit the access privileges and steal sensitive personal or business information. This can have serious security implications in areas where the successful functioning of such devices has extensible security dimensions. A robust pen test can search for vulnerabilities and secure them from further exploitation.

Strengthen data privacy: The IoT-enabled devices must adhere to stringent industry regulations failing which enterprises using such devices as a part of their IT infrastructure can face censure, penalties, or an outright ban. The application of a robust IoT testing methodology can enforce such protocols thereby ensuring data privacy.

Setting strong encryption: The software suite running any IoT device connects to the servers of various third-party applications to exchange data and information. If the data exchanged between devices or servers are not encrypted, they can be easily snooped into and exploited. The IoT penetration testing validates the effectiveness of encryption ensuring the transmission of data among such devices remains safe and secure.

Conclusion

The IoT landscape has become very complicated with myriad devices having sundry end-points conducting data transmission intermittently. This has made the job of developers and security teams challenging. However, ensuring the security and performance of IoT-enabled devices is underpinned on understanding the complexities of device platforms and conducting stringent penetration testing.