Corporate losses associated with IoT missteps rising – Technologist

Companies have started sustaining significant monetary losses due to lack of good practices as they incorporate the Internet of Things (IoT) into business models.

This was among the findings of a poll conducted by IoT security solutions provider DigiCert.

DigiCert’s 2018 State of IoT poll revealed that among companies surveyed that are struggling the most with IoT security, 25 percent reported IoT security-related losses of at least $34 million in the last two years.

The top five areas for costs incurred within the past two years were: monetary damages, lost productivity, legal/compliance penalties, lost reputation, stock price.

Meanwhile, although the top-tier enterprises experienced some security missteps, an overwhelming majority (almost 80 percent) reported no costs associated with those missteps.

Top-tier enterprises attributed their security successes to these practices: encrypting sensitive data, ensuring integrity of data in transit, scaling security measures, securing over-the-air updates, securing software-based encryption key storage.

“This study shows that enterprises that are implementing security best practices have less exposure to the risks and resulting damages from attacks on connected devices,” Mike Nelson, vice president of IoT security at DigiCert, said in a news release.  

Still, a high 82 percent of respondents stated that they were “somewhat to extremely concerned about security challenges.”

Nelson said securing IoT devices is still a top priority that many enterprises are struggling to manage.

“Integrating security at the beginning, and all the way through IoT implementations, is vital to mitigating rising attacks, which can be expected to continue. Due diligence when it comes to authentication, encryption and integrity of IoT devices and systems can help enterprises reliably and safely embrace IoT,” he said.

The survey noted that the difference between the top- and bottom-tiers enterprises was unmistakable.

Companies struggling the most with IoT implementation are much more likely to get hit with IoT-related security incidents. Every single bottom-tier enterprise experienced an IoT-related security incident in that time span, versus just 32 percent of the top-tier.

The survey was conducted by ReRez Research in September 2018, with 700 enterprise organizations in the US, UK, Germany, France and Japan.