It is said that with great opportunity comes great responsibility: along with its conveniences, the Internet of Things introduces new challenges in data privacy, safety, governance and trust
By Jaspreet Singh
The term “Internet of Things” first came into existence in the late 90s which represented the infrastructure to help the internet-enabled devices in interoperating. Internet of Things led to the development of the term “Internet of Everything” which became one of the most discussed technological trends in recent years involving a potential possibility of billions of devices connected over the internet.
All the devices we use now would soon be connected through internet, and can perform tasks on their own and can be given commands from miles away. In the current year alone, we are expected to have added 6 billion new internet enabled devices which may include smartphones, tablets, smart televisions, surveillance cameras, sensors, motion detectors, etc. Internet of Everything has basically four dimensions: people, process, data, and the hardware, or the ‘Things’.
Internet of Everything is currently growing at a phenomenal rate of 45% YoY and is expected to transcend to a market of $19 trillion by 2020. A recent Cisco study estimates that IoT will generate at least $613 Billion in global corporate profits in the year 2013-14 alone. If the signing of deals in the area is any indicator, in 2013 only, there have been 153 deals in the field of Internet of Things with an estimated worth of $1.1 Billion.
Today, Internet of Things is attracting biggest players in the technology market and with the interest shown by Google and Apple in wearable technology and devices; it has become the new battlefield for the international technology giants. Also big names like Intel, Microsoft, Dell, Samsung and Cisco have been very active in the field of Internet of Things.
The loopholes
Internet of Things has proved to be a boom in the technology sector with every organisation working hard to capture the bigger chunk of the market. But still there are issues which the organisations need to resolve before they can be implemented effectively and adopted by the common people. The biggest concern with internet enabled devices is that of privacy and security. The graph represents the challenges in IoT by use case domains. The most recent incident which gave the concern regarding security another push is the hacking of the smart Wi-Fi enabled LED light bulbs which has already made the headlines on almost all of the world’s network security and technology news platforms.
The four components of IoT: human beings, smart objects, processes and technology highlight a systematic dimension to the security of IoT. The interaction of people with the technological ecosystem requires the protection of their privacy. Similarly, their interaction with control processes requires to guaranteeing their safety. Processes must ensure their reliability and realise the objectives for which they are designed.
Another concern with the implementation of Internet of Things is the huge data that will be generated every hour from the devices. These smart devices will be capable of learning our preferences and will start taking decisions on their own. For example, the thermostat designed by Nest is capable of learning your preferences for temperature at various hours of the day and then will take decisions automatically about what temperature it should set at what time of the day. The data generated by the smart devices will definitely pose challenges in storing, processing and analysing it and can have scary implications if not properly protected.
According to a recent survey of 400 IT professional in UK and USA, conducted by network control company Infoblox, the current network infrastructure does not have the capacity to handle the increased demand due to the connected smart devices. The scenario in developing countries like India is far worse, where the maximum internet speeds are still not anywhere near the developed economies.
Overcoming the challenges
The most important recommendation could be seen as the establishment of policies and standards for IoT. There has already been initiatives taken in the direction of standards by few companies but those standards need to be accepted by all the technological contributors and a regulatory body needs to be established who would keep a check on organisations and will weigh the policies created on pre-determined benchmarks. Organisations need to consider the security and privacy issues that the users may have regarding their data and develop policies accordingly to ensure safety of the same.
It is also possible to have a framework around regulating IoT might parallel PCI Data Security Standard. Organizations can perform independent vulnerability assessments to uncover the flaw in the implementation and use a separate network for IoT devices instead of using the Internet entirely.
The bottom line
As the technology is connected with the lives of people, the results of security breaches are escalating. The overall idea of this article is that IoT not only has the potential to make our lives better but also make our lives bleak if we are not careful enough.
Jaspreet Singh is Associate Director – Advisory Services, Ernst & Young.