Internet of Things Devices Review

Introduction

Generally, IoT devices or to say many other components in the internet of things are non-standard computing items that have the capability of transmitting data and as well as connect wirelessly to a given network. Considered as digital machines, the IoT have unique identities which allow them to function properly without any human assistance. It is important to note that the Internet of Things system constitutes vital elements as well as reference framework which enable the overall system’s operations. As the demand for the communication between objects and people has continued to rise; the Internet of Things equipment does assists individual to obtain any information for any particular device. Nevertheless, enhancing the security of the Internet of Things equipment is vital since they do carry extremely sensitive information/data.

Internet of Things (IoT) Devices

Connected equipment form part of a situation in which every device communicates to each other in a bid to automate a home, factories and manufacturing firms. Arguably, Internet of Things equipment works for individuals at home, factories and enterprise. Besides, the Internet of Things equipment can be classified into three major groups, namely: consumer, enterprise and factory. Some consumer connected Internet of Things devices include but not limited to: Smart television, smart speakers, wearable and smart appliances among others. In addition, the smart technologies are: smart air condition, smart thermostats and smart lighting. Speaking of enterprise, smart sensors situated in the conference rooms/halls can assist a worker to locate and equally schedule an available hall required for a meeting, thus enabling that the room has appropriate features and size. Still focusing on smart technologies at home, a user’s car can easily communicate to the garage to open the door. On this note, indeed there exists much Internet of Things equipment that are used by a majority of people in today’s world. Popular Internet of Things items/devices include but not limited to: Tablets, smartphones, smart television, smart watches and digital assistants among others. According to Ng and Wakenshaw, (2017), smart consumers’ electronics such as tablets, kitchen items make work easier and equally save huge amounts of electricity. Smart boiler is an IoT device, in actual sense an individual is able to communicate to it with the help of an app installed in the smartphone. Subsequently, in fleet management, the GPS and OBD II sensors enables the easier controls and real time tracking of cars in transit.

Threats/Vulnerabilities in Internet of Things Equipment’

Security vulnerabilities of the IoT devices have become a major subject for both users and administrators. The majority of Internet of Things equipment, for example, smart tablets lacks the necessary security protections, which gives an opportunity for hacker to employ techniques to launch attack. It is important to note that cybercriminals usually target IoT devices because the threats of these devices occur in various models. Hackers are in a better position to spy users and even blackmail them if they gain access to these items/devices. Another concern is that many of Internet of Things equipment’s are not normally updated by the user as for such cyber crook can use their loopholes to tamper with the owner’s vital information (Abomhara, 2015). Consequently, failure to authenticate of the Internet of Things equipment is a major contributor to the security threats, some of the notable threats which results to this challenge are: weaker password, poorly installed firewall and failure to configure the Wi-Fi connections. Inappropriate encryption system within the Internet of Things devices enable the cyber crook to steal the data or interfere with the device altogether. Additionally, obtaining of unnecessary information by the Internet of Things equipment’s devices can be fatal as this implies that intruders can send malware to the equipment thus negatively affecting the general operations of the Internet of Things equipment.

Ways of Eliminating or Reducing the Vulnerabilities/Threats of Internet of Things Devices

Security is one of the major subjects with Internet of Things equipment; in most occasions, sensors within the IoT devices do collect extremely delicate information/data. Keeping the data safe is essential when it comes to protecting the Internet of Things equipment from cyber-attacks (Cui, 2016). One way of reducing threats of Internet of Things equipment is updating the firmware: in most occasions vendors update the firmware on equipment in a bid to incorporate security patches and bug fixes. Primarily, such security patches and bug fixes assist in the detection of any threats in the equipment’s, due to the fact that a majority of these threats are usually published in the dark webs.

Secondly it is important to always turn off unused equipment’s like as smart phones/tablets and laptops; essentially, a majority of Internet of Things equipment have features and abilities than are needed for a given use case. As for such unused features does make the equipment vulnerable to potential attacks. Bertino and Islam, (2017), majority of firms reduce surface threats of their equipment through disabling all the attributes that are not in use. Subsequently, cryptography is concerned with keeping and maintaining the data integrity and communications, it allows only the authorized users to get the information whether sensitive or not. In this view, data encryption of the Internet of Things equipment is vital; message authorization codes will enable the devices to detect any malware and equally authenticate conversations different components/devices. Furthermore, creating of stronger secret words will prevent hacker from gaining accessing the smartphone and other smart technologies. Several studies and research show that approximately 80% of hacking-related activities is necessitated by weaker passwords (Hossain et al., 2015). Notably, Wi-Fi firewall is essential element when it comes to protecting the Internet of Thing equipment against attacks. This configuration tool assists in monitors and block access from unauthorized sources.

Future of the Internet of Things Equipment/Devices

Indeed the future is bright when it comes to Internet of Things equipment; next year we expect to have smart toothbrushes with improved features. We expect that the most developed smart toothbrush will be available in the market. These tooth brushes will allow users to see their mouths with installed mobile apps with the help of the smart phone front cameras. Moreover, more advanced delivery drones that improve the provision of items/goods.

Conclusion

As evident from the paper, Internet of Things equipment are essential components of our lives. This equipment makes work easy and also consumes less electricity. That said, the security of the Internet of Things equipment is an issue for user, as for such there is need adopt technique geared towards eliminating the threats of the equipment. The future is promising when it comes to Internet of Thing technologies and equipment.

References

1. Abomhara, M. (2015). Cyber security and the internet of things: vulnerabilities, threats, intruders and attacks. Journal of Cyber Security and Mobility, 4(1), 65-88.
2. Bertino, E., & Islam, N. (2017). Botnets and internet of things security. Computer, (2), 76-79.
3. Cui, X. (2016). The internet of things. In Ethical Ripples of Creativity and Innovation (pp. 61-68). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
4. Hossain, M. M., Fotouhi, M., & Hasan, R. (2015, June). Towards an analysis of security issues, challenges, and open problems in the internet of things. In 2015 IEEE World Congress on Services (pp. 21-28). IEEE.
5. Ng, I. C., & Wakenshaw, S. Y. (2017). The Internet-of-Things: Review and research directions. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 34(1), 3-21.