Symantec Now Protecting More Than One Billion IoT Devices
The Internet of Things (IoT) just got a lot more secure. DLT partner, Symantec, announced in late August that it is securing more than one billion IoT devices – including everything from ATMs to vehicles to critical infrastructure.
The number of IoT devices is expected to reach 25 billion by 2020, and from a security perspective remain particularly vulnerable to attacks because of their always-on nature.
The government is concerned about the security of the IoT for two reasons:
1. National Security: In a 2014 report, the President’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee, declared that “…the rapid and massive connection of these devices also brings with it risks, including new attack vectors, new vulnerabilities, and perhaps most concerning of all, a vastly increased ability to use remote access to cause physical destruction.”
2. Expanded Cyber Attack Surface Area: As the government itself looks to IoT to realize the value of a connected government. “The biggest trend in cybersecurity is that IT leaders are losing control of their technology,” writes GovTech. “A growing number of Internet-connected devices expand the battlefield…the Internet of Things are making everyone and everything a network gatekeeper.”
Symantec’s IoT security solutions are a step in the right direction towards protecting agencies and consumers from this double threat.
Symantec’s Embedded Critical System Protection is a lightweight security client that includes authentication, device security, analytics and management to help prevent vehicles, medical devices, industrial control systems, and countless electronic devices from becoming hacked, tracked and electronically hijacked.
The solution protects IoT devices by locking down the software embedded in the device to protect against zero-day attacks and prevent compromise.
“The majority of devices in consumer hands will already have the security inside"
- Shankar Somasundaram
Removing the problem from the consumers hands is key to Symantec’s strategy, “The majority of devices in consumer hands will already have the security inside," Shankar Somasundaram, Symantec's senior director of IoT Security, told SCMagazine.com.
Symantec is working to embed security at the hardware level in partnership with chip providers and cryptographic library partners including Texas Instruments (who embeds Symantec's root certificate in multiple IoT devices to digitally sign and authenticate Internet communication and firmware updates) and wolfSSL.
Symantec also has future plans to help enterprises address IoT security by introducing new technologies such as an IoT portal for managing all IoT security from a single interface, and security analytics for proactively detecting anomalies that might indicate stealth attacks on IoT networks.
Read more here.
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