Internet of Things (IoT) today, is the center of attraction in the technology industry due to various factors like increased consumer interest, innovation, heavy investments, experimentation and so on. But IoT is infected with one of the constantly nagging problems in the industry- Security. Remember the recent DDoS attacks, where hackers mishandled the insecure cameras. This just shows that things could probably go wrong in the cyber world, if industries and consumers are not alert.
What could be the reasons behind the growing security hazard?
There are various reasons including,
- Lack of awareness among consumers on the importance of changing passwords occasionally or setting strong passwords.
- No consensus among industries on security standards like following stipulated guidelines on what kind of information they need to ask the user, user authentication methods etc.
- The user guides/ manuals place minimal importance on security features which in turn makes the user overlook the security aspects of the connected device they use.
- Users must realize that their connected device could be an essential medium for hackers to access their home network. By doing so, they take control of the entire home network and plan for further orchestrated attacks.
Tips for consumers to ward off the security threats in IoT
- Change the default user name and password of your device as soon as you make it operational. Revisit your passwords regularly. Use strong multi-character combination passwords. Changing password of IoT device alone won’t help. This must be applied to everything that runs through your home Wi-Fi router.
- Replace your Wi-Fi router password and SSID displayed on your Wi-Fi device. You can also create a separate guest network with a more secure password and run your IoT device through that. In this way all your other appliances will be safe on your primary network.
- When you add MAC filtering on your Wi-Fi network, it makes the network more ambiguous and uneasy for hackers to break in.
- Regular firmware upgrades on your connected devices help you understand security faults and other exposures in your devices. This allows you to run the latest updates to strengthen your device and network security.
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