Internet of Things
Internet of Things
“With an anticipated 22.5 billion devices due to be connected to the internet by 2021, the opportunity for holding these devices to ransom will present significant opportunities to criminals and will have serious consequences for providers and users of these devices."
Hannah Bryce, Assistant Head, International Security, Chatham House
The Internet of Things (and Bodies; the IOT) is the inter-connection of smart devices — industrial machines, domestic appliances, security cameras, internet routers, wearable or implanted monitors, vehicles, buildings, etc. — which are embedded with software, sensors and actuators which enable them to collect and exchange data via networks and to be operated remotely. Each ‘thing’ is uniquely identifiable through its embedded computing system.[1]
The number of online capable devices has increased rapidly in the last few years: it reached over 8 billion in 2017, and some experts predict that it could reach around 30 billion by 2020, with a global market value in excess of $7 trillion.
The number of online capable devices has increased rapidly in the last few years: it reached over 8 billion in 2017, and some experts predict that it could reach around 30 billion by 2020, with a global market value in excess of $7 trillion.
The benefits of the IOT include greater accuracy, improved efficiency and reduced human intervention, and the possibilities are huge — one UK Government report
noted that the IoT “has the potential to have a greater impact on society than the first digital revolution. There are more connected objects than people on the planet. The networks and data that flow from them will support an extraordinary range of applications and economic opportunities.” Take healthcare, for example, IoT devices can enable remote health monitoring (blood pressure, heart rate, pacemakers, etc.) and also emergency notification systems; in the transport sector, they can assist with information processing and the integration of communications and control across different transportation systems.
The IOT also offers enormous potential for empowering citizens, making government transparent, and broadening information access. Some scholars speculate that the IoT could come to be used to create new models of civic engagement affecting political life in both democracies and authoritarian regimes.
Security Concerns
However, as with all technological advances, there’s a downside — indeed, the risks are considerable, not least invasion of privacy, the potential for political manipulation / social control, and fraud on an industrial-scale. Many Internet-connected appliances can already spy on people in their own homes (including TVs, kitchen appliances and CCTVs) — a DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack powered by IOT devices has already been reported;[2] and computer-controlled devices in vehicles (in controls, brakes, locks, etc.) have been shown to be vulnerable to attack.
The situation isn’t helped by a lack of technical standards for both IoT devices and the software running on them, which complicates the development of reliable networks. Indeed, many companies have been criticized for rushing into the field unprepared, creating devices of questionable value, and not setting up stringent security standards.[3]
In May [2017] "an 11-year-old boy demonstrated the vulnerability of the IOT to weaponization by hacking into the devices of an audience attending a cyber security conference to operate his teddy bear. Similarly earlier this year the German Federal Network Agency
advised parents to destroy the Cayla doll because of its demonstrated vulnerability to being hacked. Smart thermostats have been demonstrated as hackable, as have cars, baby monitors and televisions."[4]
There is also concern that, whilst serving the interests of commerce and security, aggregated sensor data will also help criminals and spies identify vulnerable targets; concerns too about privacy as more and more internet-connected devices invade public spaces, for example, billboards with hidden cameras that track passers-by and monitor their reactions.
As a response to such concerns, the Internet of Things Security Foundation (IoTSF) was launched in September 2015; it’s mission: “to secure the Internet of things by promoting knowledge and best practice.” The Foundation has recently published a guide ‘Make it safe to connect: Establishing Principles for Internet of Things Security’. Fittingly, the launch was at Bletchley Park, the birthplace of artificial intelligence.
As for the longer term, the American Civil Liberties Union has noted that with the IOT: "There's simply no way to forecast how these immense powers — disproportionately accumulating in the hands of corporations seeking financial advantage and governments craving ever more control — will be used. Chances are big data and the Internet of things will make it harder for us to control our own lives, as we grow increasingly transparent to powerful corporations and government institutions that are becoming more opaque to us."
There is also concern that, whilst serving the interests of commerce and security, aggregated sensor data will also help criminals and spies identify vulnerable targets; concerns too about privacy as more and more internet-connected devices invade public spaces, for example, billboards with hidden cameras that track passers-by and monitor their reactions.
As a response to such concerns, the Internet of Things Security Foundation (IoTSF) was launched in September 2015; it’s mission: “to secure the Internet of things by promoting knowledge and best practice.” The Foundation has recently published a guide ‘Make it safe to connect: Establishing Principles for Internet of Things Security’. Fittingly, the launch was at Bletchley Park, the birthplace of artificial intelligence.
As for the longer term, the American Civil Liberties Union has noted that with the IOT: "There's simply no way to forecast how these immense powers — disproportionately accumulating in the hands of corporations seeking financial advantage and governments craving ever more control — will be used. Chances are big data and the Internet of things will make it harder for us to control our own lives, as we grow increasingly transparent to powerful corporations and government institutions that are becoming more opaque to us."
"The internet of people is more important than the internet of things... The internet is a technology, it has created a great deal of work for people, it's created a lot of economic benefit, it's created a lot of scientific benefit, but it doesn't do it by itself. The only reason that it works at all is because there are people who are committed to making it work, making use of it. So in the end the internet's value will come from the people who use it and who share their information on it and facilitate other people's sharing of information. And that's the most fundamental point to be made here."
Vint Cerf [Chief Internet Evangelist at Google;
co-founder of the Internet]
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Notes
1 The first Internet-connected appliance capable of reporting on its inventory was a modified Coke machine installed at Carnegie Mellon University
in the States. This was in 1982, but the term ‘the Internet of things’ wasn't coined until 1999.
2 The attack was orchestrated using new malware called Mirai (Japanese for ‘the future’) which turns networked devices running Linux into remotely controlled bots that can be used as part of a botnet in large-scale network. Because it has so many internet-connected devices to choose from, attacks from Mirai are much larger than what most DDoS attacks could previously achieve. This one (on 21 Oct 2016) may have involved ‘100,000 malicious endpoints’. If this is correct, it would make this attack roughly twice as powerful as any similar attack on record. The source code for Mirai has been published in hacker forums as open-source. As one security consultant: reflected: “Imagine what a well-resourced state actor could do with insecure IOT devices.” [Wikipedia]
3 Most of the technical security issues are similar to those of conventional servers, workstations and smartphones, but the firewall, security update and anti-malware systems used for those are generally unsuitable for the much smaller, less capable, IoT devices. [Wikipedia]
4 Hannah Bryce, [2017]: 'The Internet of Things Will Be Even More Vulnerable to Cyber Attacks,' Chatham House
