ChannelVision Sept-Oct 2017

Cyber Patrol 7,000 IoT devices over the next 18 months, according to a ForeScout Technologies report. Even smaller businesses expect the numbers to be hundreds or thousands; far more than they are used to securing when it comes to traditional user endpoints. “The staggering growth of IoT is creating both value and risks for en- terprise organizations,” said Jan Hof, international marketing director at ForeScout. “While IoT is recognized by many as an opportunity to improve and streamline business processes, there are associated security risks that need to be addressed – first and foremost through visibility of devices as soon as they connect to the network. You can- not secure what you cannot see.” Overall, one third of respon- dents say that IoT is already having a major impact on their organiza- tion, and a further third expect it to soon. A full 65 percent of respon- dents have “quite,” “little” or “no” confidence in terms of being able to identify and control all IoT de- vices on their networks. As for the major challenges, a ma- jority (83 percent) of respondents said that getting the various IT functions (networking, security, DevOps, etc.) at an organization to work together is one of the top IoT security challenges. A minority of survey participants considered lack of personnel to be a problem, but well more than half worry about budgets and the availability of appropriate products. “IoT deployments already involve millions of devices in businesses,” said Bob Tarzey, analyst and direc- tor at Quocirca, which carried out the survey. “Many will have limited processing power and require low power usage. Others will have un- usual operating systems and, in cer- tain cases, the things involved will be unknown to IT security teams when they first request network access. All of this requires tools that can manage and understand the security status of all network attached devices, without the need to install agents.” Verticals in the Crosshairs Some verticals are facing more IoT challenges than others. The ForeScout report found that healthcare in particu- lar is lagging in IoT readiness, while IT and telecom are better off. Meanwhile, a study from Deloitte & Touche and the Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation (MAPI) found that 40 percent of respondents in the manufac- turing sector – an early adopter of IoT – do not incorporate IoT and connected products into the company’s broader incident response plan. That’s not because they’re not using it. Among executives surveyed, 45 per- cent said their organization uses mo- bile applications and 35 percent cited sensor controls. That’s an issue given that 76 percent of companies surveyed transmit product data using Wi-Fi, and 52 percent reported that their connected products store and/or transmit confiden- tial data, including Social Security and banking information. “Manufacturers are innovating at an unprecedented rate, integrat- ing cutting-edge technologies into products, automating the shop floor, connecting supply chains and in- creasingly investing in valuable intel- lectual property,” said Trina Huels- man, vice chairman at Deloitte and U.S. industrial products and services leader. “While these advancements should position them for future growth, the industry is also likely to experience an acceleration in the velocity and sophistication of associ- ated cyber-threats.” o September - October, 2017 | Channel Vision 63