Insecurity by Design: Today's IoT Device Security Problem

In today’s technological age someone could gain access to your online bank account through a light bulb. This is due to the Internet of Things (IoT). The IoT has become a reality as more and more of our devices are being connected to the Internet. In fact, automated teller machines (ATMs) have been online for many years, and more recently we have had the installation of smart meters remotely connecting to the electricity grid. We now have smart watches and smart baby monitors, and there are many more examples of new IoT devices. The influence of IoT in our day to day activities is set to further increase with a projected 25 billion connected devices by 2020, according to Gartner [1], while Cisco believes that by 2020, 50 billion devices will be network-connected [2]. Gartner also predicts that the automotive industry will show the highest growth rate in connected things as car-to-car communication and self-driving car technology begin to become commonplace. Smart devices and sensors will be found in our homes, our cars, our workplaces, in remote health sensing, and in self-driving cars. IoT has the potential to truly revolutionize how we interact with the world today.