How can you improve IoT security in a government environment?

The nature of that government tells you what to plan. Like in Bangladesh, intensions need to be cleared before establishing such infrastructure. We can talk about establishing security policy, vendor evaluation, IDPS, network segmentation, strong authentication mechanism, data encryption, update and patch devices and more but above all I prefer the right team be utilized controlling this sensible task. They should be trained exceptionally well even if they have a vast experience of such field. The main drawback while security being compromised is not because of the flaw of system but the lacking of workforce’s sincerity. The strongest team is mandatory handling the IoT security in a government environment, the system behaves unbreakable.

The main challenge in IoT risk analysis is to draw attention to the fact that this environment is somewhat different from others encountered in day-to-day work. It's important to note that we typically deal with limited throughput, limited memory, legacy connections, non-mainstream protocols, and a high-latency environment. Moreover, it's not uncommon to encounter a budget constraint that prevents the utilization of additional appliances to enhance security. Therefore, risk analysis for the IoT environment needs to be meticulous, creative, and specific, diverging from the usual patterns of analysis and solutions commonly used in WAN environments.

La seguridad de IoT en un entorno gubernamental puede mejorarse a través de varias estrategias. Primero, es esencial implementar políticas de seguridad sólidas y actualizadas que aborden específicamente los desafíos de IoT. Segundo, se deben realizar auditorías de seguridad regulares para identificar y abordar las vulnerabilidades. Tercero, es crucial garantizar que todos los dispositivos de IoT estén actualizados con el último software y firmware para protegerse contra amenazas emergentes. Cuarto, el uso de tecnologías de encriptación puede ayudar a proteger los datos transmitidos por los dispositivos de IoT. Finalmente, la capacitación en seguridad cibernética para el personal gubernamental puede ayudar a prevenir ataques.

Security practitioners need to be willing to think outside the box - the box being their own network and zones of comfort. Threats can arise from anywhere in an ecosystem and may include component vulnerabilities or third-party vendors. No matter how irrelevant something may seem, that will be the gateway the adversary will use to infiltrate your environment. Someone or something seemingly as innocuous as a janitor or a SATA connector on a motherboard can be a threat because they have what threats need: trust and access. The beautiful thing about being a security practitioner is that you don't have to be confined to "the conventional". Your adversaries sure aren't. It's okay, in fact it's essential for you to "red team" your organization.

You can monitor the health and efficiency of your devices in real time by creating health dashboards to monitor devices and their status. Also, avoid using public Wi-Fi when you're accessing your network through your laptop or smartphone. In addition, be sure to enable firmware updates to ensure devices are running on the latest secure software. These are just a few things, that I can quickly think of that help to enforce the securing of network endpoints.

By empowering users with knowledge and practical advice, you contribute to a more security-conscious user base, reducing the likelihood of common pitfalls and vulnerabilities associated with IoT usage.

Have policies in place that keep sensitive data safe. Teach employees about cyber threats and accountability. Provide information on how to avoid phishing emails and other scam tactics. Create strong passwords and change them regularly. More importantly, understand which security tools you actually need.

Many governments globally are concerned about IoT security, particularly as more IoT devices are rolling out across critical sectors of their economies and as cyberattacks that leverage IoT devices make headlines. In response, many officials are exploring regulations or codes of practice aimed at improving IoT security. However, these levers have largely focused on consumer devices and on measures that device manufacturers should take when building or maintaining devices, as well as device certifications or labeling schemes. This includes promotion of the ETSI Technical Committee on Cybersecurity’s ETSI EN 303 645, a standard for cybersecurity in IoT that establishes a security baseline for internet-connected consumer products.

Stay up to date on technology trends, follow technology news sources. Subscribing to technology blogs and following tech news sites on social media is all helpful to stay current on trends. Have your security team attend cybersecurity conferences. Allow your team to take online courses. Join online communities and forums and discussions to learn from others.

In addition, It is important to have an incident response plan, that stipulates how to deal with security incidents in IoT. IoT penetration testing, periodic security posture analysis and continuous vulnerability assessment are important to unearth new vulnerabilities and security weaknesses. Data classification and application of respective controls is important, for example IoT platforms that handle health data and PII information have to know how to classify and handle such type of information; adhering to set national and international standards.