Gartner defines the Internet of Things (IoT) as a network of physical objects that contain embedded technology to communicate and sense or interact with their internal states or the external environment.

But today’s IoT is very different from the IoT of a few decades back. IoT today is no longer just about backend systems with the goal of operational improvement. There are now IoT projects with business objectives for improving revenue and customer experience. 

As enterprises embed more IoT into front and backend processes, security needs to be revisited taking into consideration IoT digital fingerprints.

The scale of security risks in the Internet of Things (IoT) era is therefore much greater than in the pre-IoT environment, and the “attack surface” is much larger. 

Joanne Wong, Vice President, International Markets, LogRhythm, shares her views on what it takes to secure the Enterprise Internet of Things.

1.       Please define security as it relates to the Internet of Things.

2.       Just how vulnerable are IoT devices to attacks?

3.       What makes IoT risks different from that of typical IT systems?

4.       IoT devices have been in enterprises since 2004 (BYOD). Are we saying in the 17 years since IoT was introduced into the enterprise, IT has not done much to improve the security of IoT devices as used behind the enterprise firewall? 

5.       For the CIO or CISO to commit to securing IoT devices in the enterprise, what needs to happen?

6.       Are conventional IT security solutions compatible with IoT? 

7.       What should enterprises look for when it comes to security solutions to address IoT devices in the network?