Consumers’ lack of confidence in IoT devices security

Over the past years, we’ve seen the rise of IoT devices and technology, which reshaped everything around us, making things a lot easier. It has brought solutions to companies and people willing to use technology at the highest level and succeeded to solve problems that were untouchable before. According to a Gartner press release, the predictions for the future say that by 2020 there will be more than 20.4 billion devices connected to the IoT network.

But one research conducted by Gemalto on digital security revealed that IoT plays a significant role in the digital revolution we are going through these days, but concerns about security still exist. Here are a few results from the report:

The use of IoT

Over half (51%) of the IT decision makers included in the survey reported that their organizations use IoT devices. 30% of them use devices created by themselves and 28% produced software for use alongside or within IoT devices. The report showed a great variety of organizations involved in the IoT network, which means that the connections between each company could be complex.

Consumers’ concerns about IoT

Almost 90% of consumers are concerned about IoT security, thinking that hackers could control their devices (65%), or believe that could appear data leakages (60%) or losing the personal data through IoT devices (54%). These concerns are understandable with the massive media coverage on the recent hacks like the WannaCry attack.

Spendings in IoT security

On average, 11% of organization’s IoT budget is reserved for protection, both on data and devices. Unfortunately, the report couldn’t identify if there is a predominant element of the IoT that companies are investing the most.

IoT security for the surveyed organizations is split across securing data (34%), ensuring the connectivity (29%), securing the devices (23%) and also securing the apps access (14%).

Encrypting data for more security

According to the study results, 95% of organizations use encryption for at least some of their data captured and stored on IoT devices. Moreover, 57% of the decision makers reported that their companies encrypt all of their data, which could represent a concern because all enterprises should see encryption as a primary aim.

Who’s responsible for ensuring the IoT data security?

When it comes to the responsibility of ensuring IoT security, the providers remain on the top of the list. Also, manufacturers of IoT products are now equally likely for the situations when data leaves the IoT devices (34%) and when the machines receive software updates (31%). Moreover, security specialists became equally responsible for when devices receive updates (31%).

The study revealed interesting insights about the spending on security as well as the current perception of IoT safety. In this situation, companies have to understand the impact that IoT network could have on their activity if ignoring some critical aspects. Moreover, by understanding, organizations would be able to implement protection policies and access points.

Is IoT security a real concern? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.