Research predicts more than half of UK businesses are unable to detect an IoT security breach
As the use of IoT-enabled devices increases, is security a problem?
Research carried out by digital security vendor, Gemalto claims 58% of businesses are not able to detect an IoT security breach.
“The push for digital transformation by organisations has a lot to answer for when it comes to security and bad practices,” said Jason Hart, CTO of Data Protection at Gemalto. “At times it feels organisations are trying to run before they can walk, implementing technology without really understanding what impact it could have on their security.”
With IoT predicted to be the next big things, spending on IoT security has actually increased from 11% of the overall IoT budget to 13%, despite these statistics. Companies are aware security can directly impact the revenues of their businesses and are beginning to invest in security measures.
“Given the increase in the number of IoT-enabled devices, it’s extremely worrying to see that businesses still can’t detect if they have been breached,” said Hart. “With no consistent regulation guiding the industry, it’s no surprise the threats – and, in turn, the vulnerability of businesses – are increasing. This will only continue unless governments step in now to help the industry avoid losing control.”
IDC believes the IoT market will grow to be worth more than $1.2 trillion by 2022, with consumer devices expected to account for the largest share at 19%. Ericsson has forecasted the number of cellular IoT connections to reach 3.5 billion in 2023, increasing at a CAGR of 30%.
IoT is predicted to be the major catalyst of 6G. Predictions also suggest 5G networks may soon be unable to cope with the strain of IoT. This will further impact the need for 6G due to the sheer number of ‘things’ connected to the network.
Security remains a major challenge for the industry and is being taken seriously in within the telecoms and technology sector. Companies cannot afford to ignore the challenges just because they are difficult to solve. With cybersecurity incidents and data breaches becoming more prominent in the news, consumers are gradually becoming more aware of the risks of the internet and the emerging digital society.
In the absence of regulation, Gemalto notes the adoption of blockchain technologies has doubled from 9% to 19% in the last 12 months, with 23% of the respondents to this survey believing the technology would be an ideal solution to use for securing IoT devices. 91% who are not using blockchain are considering it for the future.
“Businesses are clearly feeling the pressure of protecting the growing amount of data they collect and store,” said Hart.
“But while it’s positive they are attempting to address that by investing in more security, such as blockchain, they need direct guidance to ensure they’re not leaving themselves exposed. In order to get this, businesses need to be putting more pressure on the government to act, as it is them that will be hit if they suffer a breach.”
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