What are the Best Security Practices in the IoT?

Learn how to implement the best IoT security practices

DigiCert conducted a survey of Internet of Things (IoT) security practices implemented by more than 700 companies around the world, in order to find the best. The testimonials collected have made it possible to separate the companies that deploy a successful security approach from those that don’t, and are useful for anyone looking to secure their activities ‘in the cloud’.

In the following article, we outline the top 4 best practices in terms of security.

1. Understand the vulnerabilities of your endpoints

The challenge here is to successfully secure all of your endpoints. Map your endpoints and define for each the reason and situation they allow connection to your network, and conversely for what reason they might not. This is a matter of understanding the network and its components, and especially for determining the level of threat that they could represent.

Following that, it involves putting in place actions that will reduce the potential level of hostility to a minimum. It is also important to conduct penetration tests to highlight the weaknesses of the device and the ecosystem.

2. Encrypt all data in circulation 

At any stage – from storage to transfer – the golden rule is to consider that each piece of information is confidential. The implementation of a cryptographic encryption processes is a key step successful companies undertake unanimously; there is no exception.

3. Authentication is King (and should be obligatory for each access point) 

There’s always a risk that a user might be clumsy during their authentication process. The main rule adopted by companies that are well protected is simple: it is better to focus on denying access to malicious users rather than blocking access to harmless users.

Do not reduce the authentication standards for benevolent users. The main business challenge is how to balance a pleasant user authentication experience while protecting the network, system and devices from malicious actors and intruders.

4. Ensuring Data Integrity: Optimized Hash Efficiency 

The hash functions will ensure the integrity of your data. They will guarantee that your data has not been manipulated or modified by third parties (which is known as data corruption). Unfortunately, data corruption is much harder to detect than data theft.   

The hash remains a very powerful solution that can guarantee the integrity of data. It is a cryptographic algorithm that converts a piece of data into a series of numeric characters, called a “hash”. In the case where a small amount of information is modified, the synthesis will be completely different. This makes it possible to know when some data has been modified, no matter how small it is, by comparing the original synthesis with the new one. 

As has been discussed, good cyber security is based primarily on the availability, confidentiality and integrity of a company’s data. Good internal practices will limit the intrusion and danger of external threats. 

It’s of paramount importance to implement the technical methods that guarantee the security of your systems, networks and devices. 

In our digital service centers located in Mauritius and Madagascar in the Indian Ocean and Vietnam in Asia, our security experts are ready to consult and guide you through the best practices to implement for your digital products. 

Sources: itsocial.fr, industrie-techno.com