IoT device like Nest thermostat, Xiao Mi home CCTV device, Amazon Echo, Google Home; Bet that most of you know what these are, you might even own one yourselves.
But have you ever wondered, are they secure?
IoT Security
With the increasing popularity of IoT devices, so does the security concern for it. Surprisingly, although Cyber Security is starting to gain the attention they deserved, IoT security is not.
IoT security is the implementation of security measures to any IoT device, to make sure that they are safe from any hacker attack. There are various ways to make sure the safety of your IoT devices, and the easier one is to update them often.
Why is it important?
Many still can’t see the danger of not taking IoT security seriously. See, IoT devices are smart, and the reason that they are smart is that they collect data. The data collected by the IoT device is very accurate and important. The increased functionality of your IoT device will also mean the increased danger of cyber-attack. Think of it this way. If you are able to access your home CCTV using your smartphone through the network, what makes you think that hacker can’t access the live feed that you are accessing. The worst case will be, the hacker is spying on you, without your knowledge, imagine how scary is that.
Why get ignore?
The increase in popularity and demand for IoT devices means that traditional company who use to manufacture an offline product will need to go online now. Toothbrush, for example.
A toothbrush used to be a very simple and basic thing, without any network involvement. Fast forward to today, Oral-B launches a Bluetooth toothbrush, where data on how you brush your teeth will be collected and analyzed through their app. This, of course, will help the user understand their dental health more. But for Oral-B, this is actually something new. All of sudden, Oral-B has switched from a product company to a software company, without all the expertise that Google or Apple has.
Same goes to factories. Transforming from industry 3.0 to industry 4.0 result in a huge increase in the involvement of a network-operate machine. For the past year, manufacture has been using the analog machine without the need to worry about the network problem. But things have changed and sadly, many are not ready to adopt yet.
What can we do?
There are lots of things we can do to make sure our IoT device is safe from any attack. Below are a few steps that we think is effective and yet with less effort.
- Update your device
Simple and easy. Just make sure your IoT device is up to date. As per our previous article on updating your device, it is essential for us to make sure that our device is using the latest firmware, so to prevent any cyber attack from happening. - Use strong and unique passwords for everything
Many people will choose to go for an easy password like, for example, “Password” or “12345”, and guess what? Everyone knows this password. When someone using this password, what they basically telling the hacker is that “I don’t care”. - Know what data your device app is requesting to collect and access
It doesn’t make sense if a food delivery app is asking to access your camera, right? If it sounds fishy, don’t allow it. If really necessary, allow it, use it, then after using, remove the permission.
Final Verdict
Yup, IoT is going to be part of our future, and we can’t ignore it. So, when we are adopting IoT into our life, we also need to look into its security, so that we can get the best out of it. You don’t want your Google Home to suddenly speak by itself right?
What’s even better, join our IoT Security course now to equip yourself with the skill.
