Government agencies rely on IoT and OT devices to carry out their missions and manage everything from security cameras and personal identity verification (PIV) card readers that monitor and control access to facilities and data, to environmental controls that improve comfort, safety and efficiency. Data centers couldn’t operate around the clock without tightly controlled air conditioning, electricity and other physical infrastructure, much of which relies on IoT.

From the 19th – 22nd September, Amit Rao, Vice President – Sales & Business Development Asia, was asked to be part of the UK’s DEA Mission delegation to Singapore, on behalf of Device Authority. The delegation comprised of high growth legal, cyber and safety tech companies.

Internet-connected devices (also known as “the internet of things”) are a key business enabler for modern enterprises focused on transforming their businesses and gaining competitive advantage through automation and intelligent decision-making. According to IDC, there will be over 55.7 billion connected IoT devices (or “things”) by 2025, generating almost 80B zettabytes (ZB) of data.

On September 12, the FBI released a private industry notification entitled “Unpatched and Outdated Medical Devices Provide Cyber Attack Opportunities.” The notification underscores how a growing number of vulnerabilities in medical devices and Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) assets can be exploited by threat actors to “impact healthcare facilities’ operational functions, patient safety, data confidentiality and data integrity.”

In May 2021 President Joe Biden issued out Executive Order 14028. The order focused on “Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity” to support and protect the nation’s critical infrastructure and Federal Government networks. This directly relates to the trustworthiness and transparency in ALL digital infrastructure – IT, OT, IoT, IIoT.

IoT has emerged as a concept in the early 2000s. Since then, this technology has been adapted to facilitate more innovative building technologies and improved security strategies. It looks like IoT is here to stay and will be the future of building technology and security. According to Statista, there are currently 3.65 billion IoT-connected devices worldwide.

Cybersecurity threats to manufacturing and process plants are coming from a wide range of attack vectors, including supply chain, logistics, enterprise computing, remote connections, operator stations, programmable logic controllers, distributed control systems (DCSs), smart sensors, and new smart devices. Internet of Things (IoT) technologies offer greater connectivity and endless applications, but they make the cybersecurity landscape more complex.

Internet of things (IoT) application and rollout has been rapid, disrupting and streamlining processes in a variety of industries, However, it has created a situation where “today’s IoT security is lightweight compared to enterprise application security” , creating a need for IoT security solutions than many of the insufficient and fragmented options.