“We have all heard of smart refrigerators, or we have a smart TV at home. But, what if we could connect all these smart appliances? The technological system known as the Internet of Things (Internet of Things) allows us to achieve this and much more. This technology capable of creating smart homes or fully automated factories and promises to radically revolutionize our way of living”.
What exactly is the IoT?
It is a fairly broad concept that refers to the grouping of different objects that are connected through a network and exchange information. The network can be both private and public, and within this the connected objects are seen and are able to interact with each other or with the Internet if they are connected to it. The types of objects can be from shoes to watches or cars, anything you can imagine that can connect to the internet would be a valid object.
These devices have the necessary software to work and once programmed they can work and communicate with each other without the need for human intervention.. This automated relationship between devices is known as a M2M interaction (Machine to Machine). Also, not only can they communicate with each other or with the internet without our help, but the IoT allows us to monitor and control all these devices remotely.
Which enables?
On the one hand, we have the ability to capture information of the device itself. When analyzing the information observed, the device can, by itself, identify patterns and generate adaptations that improve its efficiency, or modify certain parameters to facilitate the use of the user. For these reasons the use of IoT in everyday life is becoming so widespread, since it helps to manage the energy or the resources used by the dozens of devices that one uses daily.
Secondly, interconnectivity allows us to communicate with the device and control it from anywhere and at any time (remote connection). We can program the devices and manage them miles away from these, or access the data they collect. So that, there are many fantasies that the IoT can make come true. Some examples could be:
A refrigerator that records the expiration dates of all its products and notifies you when they are about to expire, or that records the amount of milk you have and makes the purchase for you by himself when before you run out.
An automatic system in your own home that opens your blinds five minutes before your alarm clock rings
For garden lovers, a mobile application synchronized with different humidity sensors, temperature or wind speed that monitors the health status of your plants and instantly warns of any risk to them.
A machine in your smart company, that connects to other machines and knows when to run at full capacity and when not, assuming great savings in electricity, both economic and environmental interest.
These are just some of the examples, but if we continue to develop the IoT, the realities you can allow are limitless. This is why a good security base in IoT is essential for a safe use of this.
IoT Security
A system that implements the idea of IoT that is not well protected generates a large number of risks. And, for instance, there is an attack on the brakes of an automatic car, or an attack on any automated medical instrument in a hospital, the consequences can be catastrophic. Or an attack that disables automatic door locks would allow a thief access to the house. Unlike other technologies, IoT devices allow remote connection or internet access, making the device very vulnerable. as we have seen, an infinity of devices can use IoT and thus pose a great risk to the user's security if they are not well protected. And without security there is no trust, so we can never keep advancing and improving these technologies.
Solutions:
- A good one security in communication protocols used by IoT, like HTTP or API. We have to configure security protocols that limit sending permission to authorized devices or applications.
- Buena encryption. A good encryption system like PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) and the use of digital certificates protect the information sent and received.
- a secure system. protect the network IoT assures us of a secure system. This is why it is important to implement port security, limiting sending through these and disabling them if not used; having a good firewall and antimalware; block communication with unknown IP addresses, etc.
- Isolate your network from the public system (segmentation) and restrict access to this.
