Why We Must Strengthen Security of IoT Devices

A study by management consultancy firm McKinsey forecasts explosive growth in the number of IoT devices and their applications. IoT systems use their devices to gather data and enable automated decisions and calculated predictions. This helps organizations respond more efficiently to operational demands. The IoT embeds IT into various devices to use and control them. Whereas there are huge benefits available to businesses adopting IoT technology, IoT security is now more important than ever, as vulnerability could lead to sensitive data being compromised and weaponized against an organization and its business partners.
IoT Defined

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a concept where objects are capable of categorizing, sensing, networking, and handling potentials to allocate them to interact with each other via the Internet to realize a purpose. The point of interaction can augment consistency, sustainability, and effectiveness by enhancing access to information. In due course, IoT devices will be everywhere and in effect, facilitate business effectiveness.

An Array of Benefits

IoT devices gather a lot of data about your business operations. You can use this data to improve your business processes and daily operations. You can study the data and learn how to schedule meetings efficiently and minimize procrastination.

A true IoT environment enables operational efficiency because employees can interact with their surroundings quickly and easily and those in charge of security and access can monitor and manage the physical building through connected cloud systems

IoT security tools protect from threats and breaches, identify and monitor risks and can help fix vulnerabilities. IoT security ensures the availability, integrity, and confidentiality of your IoT solution.

The Challenge

Providing IoT security is a major challenge because of the number of devices that are connected, making an organization vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Cyber security is essential in the IoT because one threat or hack could disrupt the network — or worse, give a cybercriminal complete access to the entire system. According to IT consultancy firm Appinventive, devices connected to IoT can ‘communicate’ with each other be it tech gadgets, smartphones, smart home equipment, machines, etc. But, without adequate security, these connected devices provide a direct gateway into our personal, corporate, and governmental networks where confidential data can be either stolen or destroyed.

Enhanced security of IoT devices is even more critical, given that since the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic, most organizations have their employees working from home while others have adopted a hybrid work system, making IoT devices more vulnerable to cyber-attacks.
It is extremely important to secure the network that is a connecting bridge between the IoT devices and the back-end systems. This can be achieved by implementing security features like antivirus, anti-malware, firewalls, and intrusion detection and prevention systems.

Epson Leading the Way

This is exactly what Epson recently did with its smart printers and multi-function peripherals (MFPs). The Epson WorkForce Enterprise series firmware joins a select group that has proven that when properly configured, the devices present a low risk of attack. For its innovative efforts, Epson’s WorkForce Enterprise range of multi-function printers has received the Buyers Lab (BLI) Security Validation Testing seal for Device Penetration from Keypoint Intelligence. This Illustrates Epson’s firmware, the software built-in to its devices, is extremely secure having passed the rigorous evaluation.

This is a highly respected, independent recognition for IoT office devices such as printers, scanners, and other IT peripherals, and is given to those pieces of hardware that can meet stringent benchmarks. The Device Penetration tests consist of both automated tools and manual exploitation during which certified security experts probe for potential vulnerabilities in the device firmware/OS, ports, print protocols, embedded web page, connectivity avenues, and more – trying to hack into the printer.

With the IoT scope expanding, the market is poised to grow exponentially but efforts must be made to tackle security challenges by deploying relevant apps to ensure there is no breach of data.