An Emerging Torrent of Business Threats – New IoT Devices & Privacy Issues

How many smart devices do you have in your home? At your office? In your business? The concept of the Internet of Things came around in the late 1990s and by 2013 had evolved into a system encompassing multiple technologies. Today, IoT is interwoven into our everyday lives as well as businesses. It’s not a question of if you or your company is using the Internet of Things, but rather how, and more importantly, how securely?

As we reported at the end of last year, there will be 35 billion smart devices online this year. With that many devices now operating on the Internet, the lines between business and personal lives are quickly merged and intertwined. Most consumers don’t know how to protect themselves and their personal IoT devices. In fact, inadequate security has created a surge in IoT data breaches as unsecured connected devices now account for 26 percent of security incidents.

Consumer IoT Security Issues in Business

The Internet of Things are improving business’ efficiency and our lives. Examples include heart monitors tracking patients’ health remotely or video doorbells showing you who is at the door when you’re not at home. And it’s not stopping with electronics, even Levi’s is working with Google to create a “smart” jacket to fix the inability to answer calls or do other smartphone-specific activities while riding a bike, standing on a crowded train, or carrying groceries. As IoT expands to items such as clothing, data privacy and security becomes increasingly more important. Imagine if your employee is picking up business activities with this “smart jacket” and how data being collected may inadvertently be that of passersby and not just the owner of the IoT device. The ability to track, manage, and protect data for your business and customer have never been more sophisticated.

The more devices connected to the Internet, the more opportunities for hackers to get your personal data as well business data. There are a variety of Internet security threats both of which have increased in the last several years. As new devices, beyond computers and smartphones, are added to a company’s array of business solutions with consumer IoT, IT professionals are now rethinking their data breach planning strategies and how they can proactively protect data privacy and security.

Remote Workers and Home Offices

Lessons that have been learned during this global pandemic is that employees are just as, if not more, productive at home. This is creating a shift in the modern workforce, making remote or hybrid workforce the “new normal.” As companies embrace this change, they need to revisit their security plan. Employees now have their company’s devices connecting to their home network, a network that has a potentially high number of other devices connecting to the Internet…and being exposed to potential security breaches. While your employee may not do anything on their work laptop to trigger an attack, merely connecting to their WiFi could allow a hacker in which could ultimately lead to the infiltration of your company’s systems and data.

One woman found thousands of files of voice recordings from her Amazon smart devices after she requested the data from Amazon. Amazon was transparent about what they were recording, but the woman wasn’t aware of the breadth of it until she asked. Not to mention Amazon’s Alexa had sent 1700 recording to the wrong person before! It’s critical to train your employees with good security hygiene and understand the risks of IoT devices in your home. Not sure where to start? Here’s an employer’s survival guide to help your company to be more vigilant.

5 Tips to Help Your Company be More Secure

Keeping your data, your company’s data, and most importantly, your customer’s data private, becomes harder as the IoT grows, but there are steps you can take to become more secure.

• Audit your system. You need to make sure you understand all the IoT devices and systems that your company uses. Including consumer IoT devices.
• Develop an IoT cybersecurity plan and well as processes for implementation.
• Review all contracts with third-party vendors who have access to your IoT data, such as API partners, and ensure third parties don’t own your data.
• Ensure you are asking for explicit consent when collecting any customer data from IoT devices. Make it clear to your customer that data is being collected and how you are protecting that data.
• Update the firmware, software, and systems on all IoT devices. These updates often come with bug fixes and security patches to help keep hackers away.
• Adopt a proactive data privacy protection that can help your employees, customers take back control of their privacy and reduce the risks of data breach.

Another great way for companies to protect themselves from corporate breaches happening in remote offices is providing personal private protection solutions as an employee or member benefit. Our award-winning IDX Privacy includes Safe WiFi – a private, encrypted VPN connection which provides protection from hackers trying to access your network; our password manager feature makes creating and keeping strong passwords easier; our Password Detective feature will check for compromised passwords; and our ForgetMe Data Removal will scan data broker websites and automatically remove any personal profiles of you being sold legally online. If you are looking for even more WFH security tips, check out this post with 3 tips for protecting privacy or these 7 steps to reduce cyber risks. If you set-up security measures, you can be less worrying about privacy and start enjoying the benefits the Internet of Things can bring you and your company.