Many organizations are embracing the Internet of Things (IoT) as part of their digital transformation. In so doing, enterprises are connecting a growing number and variety of IoT devices to their corporate networks. These devices interact with other valuable IT assets and sometimes handle sensitive information. It’s therefore important that companies take steps to secure their IoT devices.
Unfortunately, IoT security isn’t as easy as it sounds. More numerous and varied smart devices create a multifaceted IoT ecosystem, which adds to the complexity of the IT environment in general. Such intricacy creates digital risk, as attackers have a greater number of devices to target and asset relationships to abuse. Additionally, smart products don’t handle data the same way or send information to the same location. Some devices may take less precautions than others, thereby jeopardizing organizations’ data security.
Not surprisingly, enterprises aren’t comfortable with the IoT security challenges above and feel there should be change. According to Gemalto’s State of IoT Security report, nearly all businesses (96%) feel that there should be some type of IoT regulation. A lesser majority (61%) think that such a regulation should include naming who is responsible for securing data at each stage of the IoT data transmission journey.
That said, many businesses aren’t implementing IoT security measures available to them in the meantime. Of the 1,050 IT and business decision makers surveyed for Gemalto’s report, just 57% of them said that their business encrypts all the data it captures or stores via IoT products. In addition, just a third of organizations articulated the view that they have complete control over the data handled by their IoT devices. This lack of control reveals that many enterprises’ data is still threatened by inadequate IoT security precautions.
It’s not clear why enterprises aren’t doing more to bolster their IoT devices’ security. At least some may not know where to start. Fortunately, organizations don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Instead they can invest in a solution that can fulfill their IoT security needs for them.
That’s at least part of the motivation behind the IoT Solutions World Congress. One of the leading events in the Internet of Things industry, the IoT Solutions World Congress is an annual summit where key stakeholders meet to discuss how they can advance the industry.
In 2018, more than 10,000 visitors (of which 72% are C-level and executives) and 300 exhibitors are expected to converge upon the Fira Barcelona Gran Via exhibition center on 16-18 October. During that time, attendees will gain a better understanding of many topics affecting the industry, including the best ways to boost devices’ security and thereby foster IoT productivity.
For its part, Gemalto supports an enterprise IoT security solution that blends together three concepts: device trust, or the creation and management of device identity and integrity; data trust, or end-to-end data security driven by policies from creation to consumption; and operationalized trust, which involves automating and interfacing to standards-based, proven technologies and products in the industry. This viewpoint partnered with Comodo CA and Device Authority in creating KeyScaler, a platform which provides secure device registration and provisioning, policy-driven credential delivery and management and end-to-end device derived cryptography for data in transit and at rest across networks and cloud services. It does this in part by integrating with Gemalto’s SafeNet Luna Hardware Security Module (HSM) – FIPS 140-2 Level 3-validated, network attached, high-assurance key protection appliances, as well as SafeNet KeySecure. In addition to securing your cryptographic keys within the tamper-proof confines of the HSMs, the integration with SafeNet KeySecure enables KeyScaler to extend encryption to IoT data and help organizations with secure, centralized key management.
To learn more about how Gemalto’s products integrate together with KeyScaler, come to Booth #133 at the IoT Solutions World Congress and visit our KeySecure page for more information on our leading centralized key management platform.
