Internet of Things (IoT)
What’s IoT?
The IoT describes physical objects that are embedded with sensors, software and another technology that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet or other communications network.
These objects have been making people’s lives easier of people in the last century. We can see since automatic soap dispenser to alexa or google homes.
Pro’s and Cons
- Monitor: The primary and main advantage of IoT is monitoring. It helps us to track the quantity of temperature our house needed, the expiration of our products
- Accessibility:The act to have the information in real time
- Speed: All this data pouring in enables us to complete multiple tasks with amazing speed
- Better Time Management: We can look up the latest news on our phones during our daily commute, or check a blog about our favorite pastime, purchase an item in an online shop, we can do almost all the things from the palm of our hands.
- Data Breach: Our personal data is more exposed. For example the credit and debit cards
- Dependence: We have become primarily dependent on the IoT’s everyday usage. Business and private lives are also dependent on IoT.
- Complexity: The IOT devices makes our lives more easily but in the another hand, if by mistake the device is damaged, we don’t know how to repair. For example: the temperature in a house controlled by a iOt device
- Privacy Issues: This can be the biggest disadvantage of IoT as people are losing their privacy by adopting and using these smart devices in their lives
- Applications
- Wereables: These are devices that we are using in our daily lives like virtual glasses, fitness bans, smartphones, etc. These are small and energy efficient devices, which are equipped with sensors, with the necessary hardware for measurements and readings, and with software to collect and organize data and information about users.
2. Health: These are devices that usualy we can find in hospitals like sensors connected to patients to check their vital signs, hospital beds, giving way to smart beds, equipped with special sensors to observe vital signs, blood pressure, oximeter and body temperature.
3. Traffic Monitoring:
The Internet of things can be very useful in the management of vehicular traffic in large cities, contributing to the concept of smart cities
4. Agriculture:
Smart farms are a fact. The quality of soil is crucial to produce good crops, and the Internet of Things offers farmers the possibility to access detailed knowledge and valuable information of their soil condition.
Privacy & security concerns in IoT
Actually, this is one of the biggest problems with iot devices.
IoT security hacks can happen in anywhere and in any industry, from a smart home to a manufacturing plant to a connected car. The severity of impact depends greatly on the individual system, the data collected and/or the information it contains.
Some problems that are more frequent to see:
- Incorrect access control: A common problem is that all devices of the same model are delivered with the same default password (e.g. “admin” or “password123”). The firmware and default settings are usually identical for all devices of the same model.
- Overly large attack surface: Each connection that can be made to a system provides a new set of opportunities for an attacker to discover and exploit vulnerabilities. The more services a device offers over the Internet, the more services can be attacked. This is known as the attack surface. Reducing the attack surface is one of the first steps in the process of securing a system.
- Outdated software: As vulnerabilities in software are discovered and resolved, it is important to distribute the updated version to protect against the vulnerability.
- Lack of encryption: When a device communicates in plain text, all information being exchanged with a client device or backend service can be obtained by a ‘Man-in-the-Middle’ (MitM). Anyone who is capable of obtaining a position on the network path between a device and its endpoint can inspect the network traffic and potentially obtain sensitive data such as login credentials.
Bibliography:
Documental “ The internet of everything, True Story” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEZBnW7wonk
