K
Kathleen Martin
Guest
In 2021, cyberattacks against IoT devices have gotten bigger and bolder, from hacking water treatment plants to security cameras, which is why work-from-home (WFH) employees and IT teams need to collaborate and share responsibility for securing the enterprise. IoT adoption has become a critical business enabler, but what are the new security challenges that come with it and what steps can be taken to overcome them?
The use of corporate and personal connected devices is now intertwined as work and home environments merge into one, but it exposes businesses to new cybersecurity obstacles that require a joint response from everyone.
Personal IoT devices crossing onto business networks
The rise in home and hybrid working as the new norm is resulting in greater consumer connected devices straying onto business networks. The non-business connected things range from anything between wearable medical monitors and smart lightbulbs to coffee machines and pet feeders. Over the last two years, Palo Alto Networks has been tracking this trend as part of a IoT security study covering 18 countries in EMEA, APAC and the Americas. In the 2021 results, 78% of international IT decision-makers (among those whose organization has IoT devices connected to its network) confirmed an increase in non-business IoT devices connecting to corporate networks by remote workers in the last year. Some markets, such as the USA, reported even higher figures with 84% saying there had been an upsurge.
These personal IoT devices present a rising security challenge for cybersecurity teams as attackers only require one employee to have one vulnerable device they can exploit. Unfortunately, most consumer IoT devices provide poor or no security features at all. Without the enterprise-grade level of security required, consumer IoT devices could pose a real problem for businesses; this is a concern acknowledged by respondents in the study.
Continue reading: https://www.techradar.com/features/whos-responsible-for-securing-the-future-of-work
The use of corporate and personal connected devices is now intertwined as work and home environments merge into one, but it exposes businesses to new cybersecurity obstacles that require a joint response from everyone.
Personal IoT devices crossing onto business networks
The rise in home and hybrid working as the new norm is resulting in greater consumer connected devices straying onto business networks. The non-business connected things range from anything between wearable medical monitors and smart lightbulbs to coffee machines and pet feeders. Over the last two years, Palo Alto Networks has been tracking this trend as part of a IoT security study covering 18 countries in EMEA, APAC and the Americas. In the 2021 results, 78% of international IT decision-makers (among those whose organization has IoT devices connected to its network) confirmed an increase in non-business IoT devices connecting to corporate networks by remote workers in the last year. Some markets, such as the USA, reported even higher figures with 84% saying there had been an upsurge.
These personal IoT devices present a rising security challenge for cybersecurity teams as attackers only require one employee to have one vulnerable device they can exploit. Unfortunately, most consumer IoT devices provide poor or no security features at all. Without the enterprise-grade level of security required, consumer IoT devices could pose a real problem for businesses; this is a concern acknowledged by respondents in the study.
Continue reading: https://www.techradar.com/features/whos-responsible-for-securing-the-future-of-work
