Everything You Need to Know About IoT Physical Security

Internet of Things (IoT) devices have proven their worth and have become commonplace across business sectors at companies of all sizes. They offer powerful new sensing and management capabilities that companies in previous decades could only dream of. 

Because they’re networked, these systems can be compromised by an attacker, just like a networked IT system. And attackers can take control of them to do physical damage to your facility. That means we need new building security. 

Mobile IT devices and computing peripherals are also IoT tools you need to know. These devices commonly include smartphones, wireless displays mounted in your hallways, networked printers, and other wireless devices. These devices run basic operating systems and are targets for remote attacks. Unfortunately, they’re also all valuable and desired by thieves. 

The last category of IoT devices you need to worry about is mobile inventory management devices. Warehouse workers use wireless handheld scanners to track inventory items coming and going from your facility. 

They also have wireless network connections to send data to financial, inventory, and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems in real time. These devices are essential to a company’s wider business operations, so you need a reliable way to track and store them. 

As we’ve seen, market forecasts show a sustained, strong demand for IoT enterprise devices. Unfortunately, this has led some manufacturers to prioritize ease of setup over security. They’re looking for any angle to set themselves apart to make a sale, which often leads them to make shortcuts in the name of convenience. 

For example, many manufacturers ship IoT devices with open network connections and well-known default passwords. Those are gifts to hackers. The burden is on your IT department to manually harden the security on every device as it comes in the door. 

The value of an IoT network increases as you make it larger. But unfortunately, larger networks can be more complex, making them difficult to secure. And hackers can hide malicious activity in higher volumes of traffic. 

Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks can be devastating. Unfortunately, they will likely become more common as hackers figure out how to leverage the billions of new, unsecured IoT devices connected to the Internet. 

To instigate a DDoS attack, a hacker first gains control of many devices over the Internet using a virus or many other forms of remote attack. Then, they connect these devices to a network under their control. DDoS networks can sit dormant for months or years, with devices going about their normal business until the hacker flips a switch and turns those devices into a “botnet” that overwhelms a target system with a tidal wave of garbage network traffic.  

If an IoT device is connected to the Internet, it is at risk of becoming part of a botnet. You might become the target of that botnet attack. In the best-case scenario, you only lose control of your IoT devices until your IT security team can disconnect them locally. 

While attackers often look to compromise IoT devices to make them part of a wider botnet, more concerning for a company is an attacker using a vulnerable IoT device to initiate a lateral attack on their network. A lateral attack is when a hacker first comprises a less important but vulnerable device on a network—for example, an IoT air quality sensor. 

Then, they use their access to that device to force their way laterally, across your network, into another device. They repeat this process undetected until they’ve comprised a valuable target, like a server with employee data or trade secrets.