IoT security trends, 2021: COVID-19 casts a long shadow

In 2020, COVID-19 left few stones unturned with its upending impact on health, society, the economy and technology itself.

Internet of Things (IoT) security was no exception. The novel coronavirus, which causes COVID-19 disease, brought new security issues to the fore, and these issues stand to ricochet through 2021 and beyond.

As many activities became remote, digital and more connected (think digital health, videoconferencing and facility remote monitoring), threats also became prevalent. Many of these IoT security threats only broadened the surface area for attacks and moved targets from centralized locations (the office) to the edge of the network.

“We saw a push to remote work, which certainly changed the threat landscape,” said Merritt Maxim, vice president and research director at Forrester Research. Examples include “trying to go after users through more sophisticated phishing attacks. Users [were] at home … [and] not as on guard as when they were in the office,” he said. “COVID-related threats are going to persist into this year and probably in the next and, in some cases, could be permanent.”

As IoT devices proliferate – and there may be some 21.5 billion devices by 2025 –  it becomes even more critical to secure IoT environments and prevent breaches.

An Extreme Networks survey revealed that organizations remain highly vulnerable to IoT-based attacks. The research, which surveyed 540 security pros, found that 84% of organizations have IoT devices on their corporate networks. It also indicated that more than 50% of these organizations don’t maintain necessary security measures beyond default passwords.

As experts have noted, the proliferation of devices creates more weak points in the system.

In what follows, we explore key IoT security trends to expect in 2021 and how COVID-19 may shape these IoT security trends beyond the upcoming year.

To read the complete article, visit IoT World Today.