NIT5140 Information Security

Introduction

The conception of Internet of Things (IoT) was for the first time made in the 20^th century, on the other hand, much more research on IoT developed over the past 20 years. It was an idea where conceivably infinite number of 'things' –, like, smart gadgets and sensors – all networked together while utilizing the gadget to gadget technologies brought about by Internet or other IP-based technologies out there.

Be that as it may, attributable to the huge number of divisions attached and their impact on general everyday presence, the security issues can have cruel results, causing hurt, interference to exercises or, in a couple of circumstances, notwithstanding prompting death of users. Colin Tankard from Digital Pathways in his recent blog post took a gander at how we may take off these issues.

Business Case/Journal article

In 2016, a Japanese malware that was widely known as  the MIRAI BOTNET was designed by black hats in Japan. The mirai botnet was aiming at attacking linux based devises that are connected to a network and eventally turn them into bots that are controlled remotely. The botnet was launched in 2016 to make rampant attacks on a huge number of IoT devices that were mostly home IP cameras, home routers, home smart devices like smart doors, smart windows, smart air conditioners and many more. This was a major security attack on Internet of Things.

The Mirai Botnet was the largets botnet attack that lead to a widespread Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attack as per the White-hat malware research group. Many online businesses that were interconnected on internal and external networks were overwhelmed with traffic from multiple sources. The home devices that got the malware were hacked and got controlled remotely like bots. Research concluded that the mirai botnet looked for devices that were vulnerable through a table of sixty default usernames and passwords. It thereafter signed in to infect the devices. Any infected devices would be controlled by the malware until when it would be rebooted and its password was changed. This IoT security breach clearly shows the levels of venerability of IoT devices if the basic rules of security are not well taken care of.

Analysis of the business Case

Internet of Things is the next big thing in technology; however, it has come with a couple of weaknesses that must be addressed now and in the future. The IoT devices contain many loopholes that can be utilized by black hats having the means and opportunity [4]. As in the aforementioned business case where a team of Japan’s black hats developed a botnet to attack IoT devices, it is clear that they were just targeting devices that interconnect in a wireless network [2].

Many individuals all around the world using these devices do not care on the security of their devices. When the wireless network is utilizing the technologies of the past, and it does not allow for the encryption of data in transit, it will be surely vulnerable to any attack. All homes and businesses therefore making use of IoT devices and wireless networks must ensure that they are utilizing the best wireless encryption technologies to protect all its data in transit [5]. Many end users of technology in Japan also did not know or had not received enough training on basic security tricks they need to practice while using IoT devices. They should have known how to configure very secure passwords on all their devices. IoT devices have this vulnerability of allowing a user to just provide any password that could not even be secure.

 In order to address this, the various IoT manufacturers must provide for a functionality that does not allow one to set up weak passwords of their devices. This will prevent the DDOS attacks as the aforementioned mirai botnet. Moreover, various IoT devices are designed with open API interfaces which allow developers to extend the functionality of the devices [3]. Many IoT designers make devices with these open APIs and give them public network standards such as Wifi and Bluetooth without any access control mechanism or privilege management [6]. This has become a major flau for IOT(Internet of Things) devices that some people now call it a Botnet of Things.

Conclusion

IoT has greatly helped in making the life of many individuals easire by simplifying processes and communication. However, it is evident in this paper that even as we utilize IoT in the twenty first century, we must be careful of the manufacturers reputation with regard to security. Users need also to learn the basic security principles when using IoT devices.

References

• Folk C, Hurley D, Kaplow WK, Payne JF. The Security Implications of the Internet of Things. Fairfax: AFCEA International Cyber Committee. 2015 Feb.
• Perlman R, Kaufman C, Speciner M. Network security: private communication in a public world. Pearson Education India; 2016.
• Pettersson, Erik. "Comparison of System Performance During DDoS Attacks in Modern Operating Systems." (2017)..
• Botta, A., De Donato, W., Persico, V. and Pescapé, A., 2016. Integration of cloud computing and internet of things: a survey. Future Generation Computer Systems, 56, pp.684-700.
• Zanella, Andrea, and Michele Zorzi. "Applying internet of things paradigm to smart city: communication model and experimentation." IEEE ComSoc MMTC E-Letter 9.5 (2014).
• IEEE Press.Qu, Gang, and Lin Yuan. "Design things for the internet of things: an EDA perspective." Proceedings of the 2014 IEEE/ACM International Conference on Computer-Aided Design. IEEE Press, 2014