How Important Is Iot Penetration Testing For A Company’s Data Security?

By Author: kedar Naik
Total Articles: 8
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The Internet of Things or IoT is shaping the future of technology while transforming the IT infrastructure of industries across the globe. According to a Gartner report, more than 65% of enterprises plan to adopt IoT solutions by 2020. Also, the total number of connected things installed across the world will rise beyond the 20 billion mark! With numbers as encouraging as these, the security risk associated is also quite high. Some significant security concerns such as avoiding sensitive data breaches, preventing loss of control over connected devices, have propelled the need for IoT-specific penetration testing services.

IoT Penetration testing is an ideal way to meet such security challenges while strengthening device security. It also protects against unauthorized usage and avoids elevation privilege. Thus, pen-testing vendors have an increased number of inquiries from big and small corporations looking to secure their IoT infrastructure against potential cyber-attacks. Usually, pen-testing providers do not have a separate specialist team in IoT penetration testing. Even with all its smart components, IoT has basically ...
... introduced a complicated environment for developers and security providers. It is the regular security teams that try to understand this complex environment and develop a thorough assessment plan for securing IoT. Before understanding the specifics of an IoT penetration testing, let us first look at the IoT infrastructure and its various components.

IoT Network and Components

When examining the IoT penetration testing field, numerous security engineers underestimate this domain as less challenging. This assumption stems from the fact that an IoT environment does not have the most common vulnerability: human error. According to CompTIA, human element accounts for 52% of the root cause of security breaches. However, this observation is incorrect. Cyber hackers have a higher chance of breaching an IoT system due to its expansive architecture comprising of multiple elements.

A typical IoT solution has a system structured on various connected components. These are assorted into three primary categories:

Things
Things are smart devices furnished with sensors and actuators. Device manufacturers should ensure their security. However, what happens most of the times is that while device manufacturers are well versed with mechanical and electrical engineering and physical safety, they do not possess the knowledge of software security. It's quite understandable because to develop a secure smart device; the corporation also has to hire IoT personnel and provide training to their employees, thus straining the budget. Also, once a smart device is sold, there has to be regular maintenance, thereby adding to the manufacturer's cost. Usually most device manufacturers do not take the trouble of goring this whole process. Hence, this disregard of the security of smart devices is one of the causes of breaches in the IoT domain.

IoT field gateways
There are border elements connecting Things and the cloud part of an IoT solution. One of the favourite targets for hackers, these serve as the perfect entry point for cyber breaches. These gateways are powerful and complex. Hence, they are more vulnerable than other components. To ensure the security of a corporation's IoT infrastructure, it should conduct a penetration test annually. This will ensure the safety of all communications between the gateways and devices, from hackers.

Cloud gateways
As the technological landscape is evolving, more and more companies are moving towards cloud adoption through SaaS, IaaS, and PaaS. Cloud gateways is a component of IoT architecture that facilitates data compression and transmission between the gateways and cloud servers.

Apart from having a dedicated cloud security software for identifying and fixing its vulnerabilities, cloud owners must consider pen-testing their cloud gateways. That too, for its essential parts namely:
Streaming data processor
Data storage
Data analytics
Machine learning
Control applications
Client-server system
Thus, whether you are a cloud owner or a public cloud customer, both share the responsibility of ensuring IoT security. With a rise in cyber attacks, organizations are now willing to hire third-party security professionals to conduct penetration tests under controlled circumstances.

To Conclude
Every company should be aware of the challenges and risks of their IoT ecosystem and know how to maintain its absolute security against malicious hackers. One of the best ways to address these challenges is hiring a penetration testing provider who can detect security weaknesses in multiple IoT components. IoT penetration testing requires an in-depth understanding of an IoT infrastructure. IoT pen-testers must also be well-versed with the black box and white box testing. Therefore, before hiring, organizations must conduct thorough research of pen-testing provider's scope of service and the security team's competence, for best results.