Develop a Strong IoT Security Strategy to Protect Your Success
by Exosite, on November 7, 2017
The insight, conveniences, and power of the Internet has drawn in thousands of mission-critical assets and systems. With this increased power comes the increased risk associated with Internet-connecting, multi-million dollar equipment capable of causing harm to personnel and other systems. In order to create a modern, pragmatic approach to IoT security strategy, it’s important to pull from both technology and culture equally to be effective.
Put Security First
Security should be central to the delivery of your IoT product. All decisions made in regard to your IoT platform should prioritize security over the delivery of feature requests. When necessary, security should take priority over usability based on the level of risk associated with a data or control breach of your IoT applications.
Understand the Core Technology Concepts
Develop an understanding of the core technology concepts in the realm of IoT security—data, control, and hardware. These concepts can help organizations learn how to better prevent attacks, mitigate impacts, and recover from attacks on IoT systems.
Incorporate Defense in Depth
Layering proven security technologies to create depth yields better results and deters breaches. Hackers typically gain access through incremental steps in which they throw the widest net possible to find the most vulnerable systems. Learn about the strategies that can be used to respond to attackers at each step of their process to minimize the impact of hacking events.
Ensure Everyone Feels Responsible
Your employees, users, and coders should feel personally responsible for the safety and security of the devices connected to your network. There are 7 core cultural concepts that you should encourage as you implement your IoT strategy. Every stakeholder should take time to evaluate their impact on the security of the system and, those who can, should design in safeguards when possible to protect against and minimize the potential impact of attackers.
Constantly Reevaluate
Improving your security technology, regularly testing systems, patching often, and spreading secure cultural ideals throughout your company should be a constant effort. Encourage your employees to provide feedback for improvement and to take proactive security measures to keep ahead of hackers at every opportunity.
If you’d like to learn more, get your free copy of our Best Practices to Build a Pragmatic Security Strategy white paper. We’ve also done a webinar IoT Serious: Humans, Machines, and Building a Culture of Security that you can view at anytime. There is also an article published on Dark Reading on the 5 Best Practices for Winning the IoT Security Arms Race for even further reading.
To learn more about how to plan for a new connected product, make sure to download our IoT readiness guide or connect with our IoT experts.