March 14, 2017
As nice as it is to have a connected world, the security threats brought on by the desire to have every device we own connected to the Internet are great. In fact, a staggering 96% of IT security professionals expect an increase in attacks on industrial Internet of Things.
According to a new survey published by Tripwire, a global provider of security and compliance solutions for enterprises and industrial organizations, the rise of industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) deployment in organizations will bring on countless problems.
On top of the fact that nearly all IT security experts expect the number of cyberattacks to increase against IIoT devices, 51% said they do not feel prepared for security attacks that abuse, exploit or maliciously leverage insecure IIoT devices. 64% admitted there’s a need to protect against IIoT attacks as they become more and more popular.
Prepare or face the consequences
“Industry professionals know that the industrial Internet of Things security is a problem today. More than half of the respondents said they don’t feel prepared to detect and stop cyber attacks against IIoT,” said Tripwire’s chief technology officer David Meltzer.
He believes there are only two ways to see this situation through – either we change the level of preparation or we experience the realization of these risks.
On top of the high risks IIoT devices come with, 90% of the study’s respondents believe deployment of such devices to increase, while 94% believe the vulnerability levels in their organizations will grow with it.
“The problem of insecure IoT devices is becoming very serious, as they penetrate our daily lives very quickly. Many of these devices are designed and manufactured without any security in mind at all, and even do not support vulnerability patching or software updates. This means that hacked smart devices become useless garbage, suitable only for recycling,” web security firm High-Tech Bridge CEO Ilia Kolochenko told Softpedia.