IoT: An idea whose time has come

The rapid technological advances being made in Internet-connected devices like sensors, routers, smart phones, smart TVs and security cameras  have all the potential of enabling the fast growing connected world as billions of devices collects exponential amounts of data. Internet is visibly making every object or machine around us smarter, right from connected smart televisions medical equipment, security cameras, routers, trash-cans, baby monitors, toothbrushes, sports gear with embedded sensors and smart refrigerators. We will soon live in an ecosystem where these ‘dumb devices’ would acquire intelligence through an inbuilt OS enabling the devices to get connected with other paired/authorized devices. 

“Internet, ‘Network of networks’ may very well be termed as one of mankind’s finest inventions and ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) could be pitted as the optimal enablement of this invention, owing to its scale and utility, says Tarun Kaura, Director, Technology Sales, India & SAARC, Symantec. 

Tarun Kaura, Director, Technology Sales, India & SAARC, Symantec; “Internet, ‘Network of networks’ may very well be termed as one of mankind’s finest inventions and ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) could be pitted as the optimal enablement of this invention, owing to its scale and utility. 

Today 7.5 billion people are connected to the internet. As things stand today, some 50 billion things which will include non-people will be getting connected. “Use cases for IoT are plenty, be it for energy companies that can build smart grids to reduce T&D losses or for the food industry where there is a lot of wastage due to lack of proper warehousing and logistics,” says Cisco President India and SAARC Jeff White.  Apart from helping companies plan better, smarter networks also cut operational inefficiency to size resulting in the increased productivity. 

Jeff White, Cisco President India and SAARC; Use cases for IoT are plenty, be it for energy companies that can build smart grids to reduce T&D losses or for the food industry where there is a lot of wastage due to lack of proper warehousing and logistics. 

There is no denying that Internet of Things (IoT) is definitely going to be one of the biggest trends in technology in the coming future. IoT is being defined as smart machines interacting and communicating with other machines, objects, environments and infrastructures, resulting in volumes of data generated and processing of that data into useful actions that can “command and control” things and make life much easier for human beings. The year 2014 will see enterprises exploiting this new reality to a whole new level. With IoT as an emerging focus for all players and with its increased adoption, many verticals like automotive, healthcare, networking and retail are expected to reap huge benefits out of it. IoT would not only ease our daily lives with a minimal usage of time but will prove to be cost efficient as well.

Edgar Dias, Regional Director for India at Brocade; Although concerns over security and interoperability with devices still remain, the Internet of Things is set to revolutionize industries such as healthcare, retail and transportation with the movement gaining traction in 2014.

Vivek Tyagi, Country Sales Director, Freescale; IoT would not only ease our daily lives with a minimal usage of time but will prove to be cost efficient as well.

Robert Metcalfe, the inventor of Ethernet, states that the power of a network increases by the square of the number of nodes connected to it. According to IDC, the total “Internet of Things” market including technologies and services will be $8.9 trillion (US) by 2020, with 212 billion devices connected to the Internet, changing networking forever. “Although concerns over security and interoperability with devices still remain, the Internet of Things is set to revolutionize industries such as healthcare, retail and transportation with the movement gaining traction in 2014. As a result, enterprises need to start studying how the Internet of Things will affect their business, says Edgar Dias, Regional Director for India at Brocade.

Srinivas Tadigadapa, Director – Enterprise Sales, Intel – South Asia; Year 2013 saw Intel take major strides in areas like IoT with their applications growing across sectors.

Jagdish Mahapatra, MD, McAfee India and SAARC; The Internet of Things is permeating the marketplace, bringing physical objects together through remote accessibility across the Internet without the need for human intervention, using the same wireless networks and Internet Protocol (IP) that connects your computer to the Internet.

IoT Challenges

According to Ericsson, there will be 50 billion IP-connected devices by 2020, up from 1 billion just a year ago. This phenomenon has exploded the threat scope for these devices with ATMs, point-of-sale (POS) terminals, kiosks, medical equipment, SCADA systems and other embedded devices being hacked in ever-increasing numbers. “To work as intended, most of these devices include embedded sensors that make it very easy to track the movements of those devices and monitor interactions with them. In other words, embedded intelligent devices are now just as likely as PCs, servers or smartphones to be dragged into botnets or hijacked by cyber-attackers,” says Jagdish Mahapatra of  McAfee. 

Mohit Puri, Country Manager, WatchGuard, India/SAARC; WatchGuard suspects that good and bad hackers will focus heavily on finding holes in these IoT devices in 2014. 

The dynamism of the Internet of Things is one of its most challenging features as most of us in our day-to-day lives might come across many of these smart devices, yet be unaware of the consequences that might pop-up if they are not secured appropriately. More the connected devices, greater is the range of "significant" security challenges across data privacy and physical security that have the potential to disrupt functionality of consumers and businesses in new ways.

Essentially there needs to be a two-step approach to mitigate the security risks posed through connected devices. First, an embedded security software for in-device security can enable devices to filter, as well as prevent proliferation of threats. Secondly from a manufacture’s perspective, major software vendors should figure out how to notify customers and provide patches for vulnerabilities. Manufacture of devices that connect to the Internet need to notify customers of an oncoming security problem and also design user-friendly ways to apply patches.”

In the wake of a sophisticated threat landscape and newly emerged business models, security cannot be seen as an instrument to stop bad things from occurring but instead as an enabler for more efficient, effective, and agile business. This realisation is steadily coming into effect with the paradigm of security moving from mere device safety to protection of assets with increased awareness of risk management and the reputational cost. In the ensuing year, there will be greater consciousness for security to be approached from a combination of endpoint, network, and data-centric controls for discovery, prevention, detection, response, and audit rather than each of these elements in a siloed manner. This interlocked approach, ensures better intelligence exchange arming companies with situational awareness and real time for quick and strategic action.

Security company WatchGuard expects white and black hat hackers to spend more time cracking non-traditional computer devices such as cars, watches, toys and medical devices. “While security experts have warned about securing these devices for the past few years, the market is just now catching up with the expectation. WatchGuard suspects that good and bad hackers will focus heavily on finding holes in these IoT devices in 2014,” says Mohit Puri, Country Manager, WatchGuard, India/SAARC. 

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