Businesses with big operations all over the world are catching the IIoT wave. What’s not to love? Connecting various devices to the internet so that the devices themselves can actually communicate with teams and sometimes with each other to make automated adjustments, alert teams about problems or points of interest, and, over all improve the efficiency of operations. The variety of IoT applications has is huge and is only getting bigger. The variety of applications of IoT to optimise operations for business is beginning to look as though it will grow exponentially over the next 5 years. The uses are endless. Farmers are beginning to use IoT to monitor the PH levels of soil, altering them automatically in order to yeild a larger crop. Large apartment blocks use IoT sensors to control lighting and heating systems only when needed which means energy expenses are kept as low as possible. Large construction projects are beginning to use IoT sensors to locate tools meaning construction crews don’t have to spend much time locating tools, or returning them to any specific location.

In order to take advantages of these efficiencies, these devices have to be connected to the internet. This poses a risk in itself, but the problem grows in stature when we estimate how many devices an operation might have to connect to the internet in order to have a positive effect on its output efficiency. Take the construction site for instance. How many tools might be needed on a large construction project lasting 2+ years? Thousands, perhaps even hundreds of thousands if the operation was particularly large. Hundreds of thousands of devices connected to the internet.

Each of these tools would now represent a vulnerability, or a relatively easy gateway to your company’s network. Not only that, but a potential bad actor could just target the tools themselves, potentially ruining the efficiency strategy, forcing a company to pour resources into re-organising the tools in a non IoT fashion. This could have a huge impact on schedules, timelines and deadlines. Management might even be in a position where they’d agree to pay a ransom, rather than go without their Iot-tool strategy.

It seems that we’ve grasped fully the positive that IoT in industry has to offer, but we haven’t really examined what might be the negative, or the security cost of IoT. Perhaps this is because, incidence of IoT hacking resulting in a large-scale corporate catastrophe isn’t common place enough for us to consider it a likely threat. IoT security is an afterthought. Something to sort out once the IoT strategy is up and running!

In real terms, the threats we face with IoT will be just as clever as it’s application and perhaps far more complex.

Thanks For Reading..

Logz.ly is an INCA Networks Log Management and IoT monitoring solution.

Has your company got Its IoT covered? Don’t put it off. Contact Logz.ly today.