IT leaders and cybersecurity professionals must understand the unique challenges IoT devices present, why a zero trust approach is so important and how the right network hardware can help secure your IoT environment, says Dee Dee Pare of Cradlepoint.
The temptation to massively scale new technology so often overpowers the responsibility to ensure that technology remains secure. The world of the internet of things (IoT) is a prime example. IoT is growing exponentially and positively impacting industries such as healthcare, office buildings, manufacturing and retail. However, IT managers and cybersecurity are often left with a deficit between how they’ve scaled their IoT environment and how well they can secure that environment. Fortunately, it seems IoT security is beginning to get the attention it deserves.
In July, the Federal Communications Commission proposed a new IoT security initiative called the Cyber Trust Mark. Despite the SciFi-sounding name, this proposal shows just how seriously the U.S. government is taking IoT security. If this concept becomes reality, certain IoT devices — such as smart home devices or security cameras — would receive the Cyber Trust Mark, indicating the devices meet government standards for IoT security.
Even as IoT security gets federal attention, it remains important now for enterprises to do all they can to secure their IoT devices, thereby protecting their networks.
IoT’s Unique Security Challenges
There are a few factors about connecting to IoT devices and infrastructure that present challenges for enterprises that want to secure their IoT environment. First, the amount of IoT devices in circulation has grown exponentially. There are now an estimated 41.76 billion IoT devices that exist globally in 2023. Also, shipments of IoT devices are expected to grow at least 18% annually. This will contribute — and quite frankly is already contributing — to IoT device sprawl for many businesses. As many IT leaders and cyber security personnel are aware, any growth in IoT corresponds to a growth in potential attack surface. Also, there are IT personnel and business leaders who are apprehensive about the costs associated with securing an IoT environment due to the challenges and scale. In turn, they are not sufficiently investing in the technology needed to secure their IT architecture.
In addition to cost concerns and the sprawl associated with IoT devices, many current security methods aren’t equipped for how IoT devices communicate with each other or for how bad actors can penetrate IoT devices. First, most security methods are designed with an agent or end user in mind. This includes the use of passwords or even two-factor authentication. However, IoT devices can’t respond like end users. Also, IoT devices have limited processing power, which makes it more difficult for them to perform effectively if they need to house large-scale security software.
Many enterprises recognize the need to secure their IoT environment, but current, popular methods aren’t cutting it. One common option is through a virtual private network or VPN. However, establishing VPNs at scale is complex to set up and maintain. VPNs have another fatal flaw — once a bad actor is inside the network, they can have unlimited access. There are also networks that use private access point nodes (APNs), provided by a cellular provider. However, private APNs don’t allow enterprises to take full control of their network and manage how they secure their IoT deployments.
See More: Under Threat: The Security Conundrum Facing IoT
What’s the Best Way To Secure Your IoT Architecture?
The answer is with an efficient, zero trust network access (ZTNA) approach. Zero trust is the only way for enterprises to ensure that IT teams can easily establish a completely secure network connection. Also, it eliminates the possibility of dangerous lateral traffic between IoT devices and potentially other critical databases and assets.
The problem for many enterprises is that zero trust may for them be the latest security buzzword rather than an established concept with a defined path to implementation. Also, there may be scenarios where IT departments lack the manpower or expertise to set up a network with comprehensive and efficient security measures. This is why it’s important for IT leaders to select a network solution that makes IoT security efficient, easy to configure, easy to manage, and comes with the right hardware to complete a comprehensive security approach.
Through proper research, IT leaders will find there are routers built specifically for IoT connectivity that can allow businesses to leverage the benefits of their IoT environment while keeping their processing power and security needs top-of-mind. For example, Cradlepoint’s S700 router can offload security processes to a service gateway so that IoT devices can still adhere to zero-trust security policies without those policies burdening the performance of the router.
IT leaders will also find the right router will be multipurpose. IoT environments connect various parts of a business or organization. Therefore, the right router should power that connection. Also, enterprises should find a router that can efficiently connect over various transport types such as cellular, Wi-Fi and wired. This helps promote network resiliency.
The right network solution will easily allow enterprises to implement the zero trust network policies that will make their IoT environments inherently secure. For example, Cradlepoint’s NetCloud Exchange solution allows IT leaders to easily configure their wide-area networks (WAN) automatically implementing zero trust principles, extending this protection to the connected IoT devices. IoT devices are then immediately following zero trust policies, such as being dark to public scans and only accessible through the proper authorization. The latter is especially important for enterprises since many WANs are connected to third parties, and proper third-party access is a must-have for business.
A New Approach to IoT and Security
It’s past the time for the security of IoT environments to catch up to the proliferation of IoT environments. With businesses’ greater dependence on IoT devices, the expansion of connectivity technology like 5G and the anticipated massive growth of the IoT market, cyber security personnel are in danger of perpetually playing catchup to how big their company’s IoT architectures can grow. This is why it’s important for businesses to lean less on traditional security measures like VPNs and private APNs and invest in the latest in IoT connectivity hardware and zero-trust technology.
How are you ensuring the right network hardware and ZTNA collaboration to secure your IoT environment? Share with us on Facebook, X, and LinkedIn. We’d love to hear from you!
