Only Half of Businesses Providing IoT Services Can Detect a Breach of Their Devices

(February 18, 2019) Only half of businesses providing Internet of Things (“IoT”) devices can detect when a device is breached, a new worldwide survey found.

“Given the increase in the number of IoT-enabled devices, it’s extremely worrying to see that businesses still can’t detected if they have been breached,” according to the report prepared by Gemalto, an international security company. For those businesses that cannot detect a breach of an IoT device, hackers may remain in the company’s system for a longer time. Only 59 percent of businesses surveyed encrypted the data, exposing their customers’ personal information. Of those who encrypt the data, two-thirds say it is done as soon as it is captured on the IoT device.

The survey found that the number of organizations that consider security when they design IoT products declined to 24 percent in 2018 from 32 percent in 2017. However, the number of businesses that believe they have an “ethical responsibility” to provide a secure IoT device increased to 14 percent in 2018 from 4 percent in 2017. Over half the respondents use IoT devices created by third parties. Of the organizations that design their IoT devices in house, 57 percent said they use a “security by design” approach.

To improve IoT security, those surveyed called upon governments to intervene. Over 95 percent said there should be IoT security regulations to ensure that businesses are keeping their and their customers’ data safe. Well over half (59 percent) said the regulations should include who is responsible for securing the data both in transit and in storage.

“With no consistent regulation guiding the industry, it’s no surprise the threats—and, in turn, vulnerability of businesses—are increasing. This will only continue unless governments step in now to help industry avoid losing control,” the report found.

While awaiting governmental regulation, some in the industry have turned to blockchain as a potential aid. Use of blockchain has increased to 19 percent from 9 percent a year ago.

Gemalto surveyed 950 IT and business decision makers globally to prepare the study.