5 Security questions to ask when it comes to IoT
Internet of Things security in manufacturing doesn’t have to be overwhelming if you ask the right questions in order to better understand how to protect your connected devices and assets.
1 – HOW DO I SAFELY CONNECT SYSTEMS, DEVICES, AND OTHER ASSETS?
Devices need to have unique identities. Faking a device identity can be a vulnerability to an IoT network, so to safeguard against this possibility, make sure that every device on the network has its own unique ID. This allows for secured-channel communications, providing a more secure connection between the device and the IoT control center. The net effect is that the control center approves or rejects individual devices, enabling complete control over what’s connected and when.
2 – ONCE MY DEVICES ARE SECURE, HOW DO I KEEP MY CONNECTION SECURE AND EFFICIENT?
Update your systems and audit connected devices. Best practices dictate that keeping things up to date is a key element of network security, and onsite audits of connected devices help identify any physical problems early. Updates eliminate vulnerabilities from new malicious activities, and onsite audits keep things running (and also helps conserve resources and keep costs down).
3 – SOME DEVICES AREN’T ONLINE ALL THE TIME OR APPEAR TO BE IN LOW-POWER MODE WHEN THEY ARE ONLINE. HOW DO THEY STAY SAFE?
Offline devices stay safe because of the service-assisted communication pattern that has been implemented by your IoT solution. Among other things, “service-assisted communication” means that there are several filters in which the messages must pass through to get from A to B. For example, you can continue to send messages to offline devices but they are held until a device connects to receive them. This means your message is safely at the intended device, waiting for the device to power on and authenticate itself.
4 – WHAT DOES THE BACK-AND-FORTH COMMUNICATION BETWEEN DEVICE AND CONTROL CENTER LOOK LIKE, AND IS THE TRAIL IT LEAVES SECURE?
Your command center sends a message to the device, and in return, the device sends a message to the command center. This communication path or paths are trackable through a system of receipts; these same messages can then be cached to enable resilience to outages and unreliable communication channels.
5 – WHAT HAPPENS TO MY IOT SECURITY WHEN I WANT TO SCALE MY BUSINESS?
Your security scales as your business does because your IoT solution allows you to use unique identities and shared keys to connect devices, allowing a wide range of devices to interoperate via secure communication paths. And by infusing secure systems into the culture of your business, IoT security will become part of the evolution of your business.
