IoT - Is my personal data secure?
Smart Cities, Smart Highways and Smart Homes are upon us! There might be some of you think thats it’s just major cities like London, Dubai, Barcelona or New York that are embracing technology in this way, but many British Cities and the UK Government are following their lead due to the adoption of IoT devices (Internet of Things).
The number of IoT appliances and devices now available for personal and business use is astounding. There are currently 8.4 Billion connected “things” in use around the world, 63% of these are within your own home according to the research firm Gartner. Just look around your office or home, whose wearing an Apple Watch or Fitbit, there is probably a smart TV (if not then why not…it is World Cup year!) and if you’re super-rich, a smart refrigerator!
I met with a chap 3 years ago at a conference who was buying smart fridges by the lorry-load, then selling them onto customers in America. He mentioned to me that the UK market was just coming around to the idea…. ahead of the game, wasn’t he? It still seems a little nuts to me, I know when I’m out of milk…
But all these IoT devices do bring up a valid question – how do we make sure that our personal data is secure from hackers and that we don’t get any nasty viruses?
Well, luckily for us there are security measures adopted when designing and implementing Smart City design, which revolve around 4 key areas - device discovery and access management, intelligent network segmentation, threat prevention, and data integrity. These help to enhance security on the network side, as there is very little security built into the devices, data encryption, plus threat prevention to block an attack before it gets into the network. So... we should be covered in a Smart City. But what about our homes?
Because so many of these IoT devices are in our homes our personal data and security could be at risk. Network segregation via a good firewall will certainly make your home network more secure, as would separate VPN clients for the IoT devices including any home security device like CCTV cameras.
The real question for me is, how many items do you really need connected to the internet? Do you need a connected fridge, do you need a smart vacuum or smart lightbulb? Sure, they are all very practical and could make life simpler but…are we going for style and convenience over security?
Thoughts on a postcard!