Network Cultures: Security Implications of the Proliferation of IoT Devices

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Network Cultures: Security Implications of the Proliferation of IoT Devices
This is the era of the Internet of Things (IoT) because devices that are connected digitally are being adopted in almost every aspect of human life including cars, offices, homes, and human bodies. Some of the factors leading to the fast growth of the IoT is the wide deployment of Wi-Fi networks and the advent of IPv6; studies carried out predict that the number of devices that will be connected wireless will be more than 40 million by 2020 (Sen and Bagchi 74). IoT has enabled technology users to do things that could otherwise not have been done without it. However, the proliferation of these digital and wireless devices leads to various security implications. It has become a target for most cybercriminals. Connection of more devices implies more exposure to attack vectors and higher chances of being targeted by hackers. Unless this issue is addressed pretty fast, it might soon turn out to be an inevitable disaster and limit the efficiency of the Internet of Things. This essay focuses on such implications.
Specific Security Issues Associated with IoT Products
Unauthorized Access
One of the most common security issues that are challenging the use of smart devices is their resilience against exposure to different types of physical attacks (Stergiou et al. 964). Most IoT objects failure to get attended, making them an easy target for malicious actors who capture them and then modify or meddle with the programs, extract cryptography secrets, or replace them with other devices that are already pre-exploited and controlled by the malicious actor.
Devices that are built for capturing login information about a user at the source level are also a source of concern. An illustration of such a device that is built manually is the USB wall charger that is capable of cracking Microsoft keyboards that are wireless and then sending the data wirelessly to the device set up or used by the attacker (Mahmoud et al. 336). Such unauthorized access mainly results in creation of perceptible risks to the physical safety of the device, despite the fact that access of IoT is possible although from afar. Some reports also show that it is possible to hack insulin pumps remotely and deadly doses of medicine delivered or scheduled injections skipped. Additionally, various experiments conducted show that a built-in telematics unit can be used to fully access the internal computer network of a car without necessarily touching the car. Data in the internal computer system of the car is manipulated and then a code delivered to another computer that is connected to the IoT device to facilitate synchronization of data.
Encryption
The issue of the impact of proliferation of IoT devices on encryption can be analysed by considered three cases related to the issue under study. In 2014, a security firm in Israel discovered cases of vulnerability in a telematics device that had been developed and fabricated by Zubie, a connected-car start up based in the United States (Tardieu et al. 255). The researchers also established that the hardware that Zubie had developed for tracking the performance of a car and issuing instructions to driver...