Cybersecurity and the Internet of Things

PURPOSE/THESIS: The purpose of this paper is to use a recent cyber-attack to highlight the current state of readiness of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies with regard to security vulnerabilities as well as fundamental – in the author’s opinion – changes that will need to take place within these industries and technologies to mitigate the overall cybersecurity risk. APPROACH/METHODS: The analysis of the findings from numerous existing published security studies. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The following conclusions were reached: (1) in the world becoming more and more interconnected through the web enabled devices (IoT devices), new forms of security threats have been developed; (2) at present IoT devices introduce a high level of vulnerability; (3) many of these risks may be mitigated with already existing technologies; (4) however, due to the fragmented and heterogeneous nature of the IoT devices, the implementation of even basic levels of security is more challenging than in the case of traditional Internet connected devices (e.g. personal computers); (5) the industry needs to face and address three key issues that will in turn help to mitigate the unique security threats posed by IoT devices, namely: the drive towards open standards, the industry cooperation and consolidation, and the improvement of consumer awareness. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: The value of the research is to highlight the security issues related to the Internet of Things and propose solutions that must be implemented to increase the level of security awareness within the IoT environment.