Page 46 - Cyber Warnings

Trade off
In 2016 the IoT market generated $1.39 billion with a forecast of generating $74.53 billion by
2025. Largely due to global distribution and growing internet availability, the demand for
connected devices will increase while the cost of sensors, sensor technologies, and high speed
internet will decrease. The only thing slowing the growth will be a shortage of IoT expertise and
trained workers along with a lack of universally accepted standards and protocols (Inkwood,
2017). Polling 5000 enterprises globally, an AT&T Cybersecurity Insights Report found that
85% of enterprises are either currently using or planning to adopt IoT hardware, yet only 10%
are confident they can secure these devices (Meola, 2016).
Always On: Part of the Collective

Virtually every household item has the potential to become connected to the internet in the next
few years. Turning a “dumb” device into a smart one will be financially inconsequential as
processors become a commodity. This could result in a flood of smart devices that have little to
no value to the consumer. These smart devices would instead be produced as a way to harvest
data, analytics and information for the manufacturer. Data is a much sought after commodity
that can be used by the manufacturer or resold on the marketplace. Mikko Hypponen, chief
research officer at F-Secure, foresees kitchen appliances collecting data to monitor repairs and
broadcast their location. Location data can help marketing and sales by focusing advertising
(unbeknownst to the owner). With upcoming 5G wireless service, these devices may not even
need a home Wi-Fi to communicate worldwide. Just as computer-controlled vehicles are
commonplace in the automobile market; soon you likely won’t be able to purchase a device
without IoT connectivity. Darren Thomson, CTO & Vice President of Technology Services at
Symantec, agrees that companies are asking if they can produce IoT devices instead of if they
should. Businesses across the globe are racing to digitize what they do and connect what they
have in order to collect data from what they have to sell. Further, patches and updates work for
items that can be completely shut down and rebooted, but cars, buildings, pipelines, power
plants and cities have little or no downtime.

The danger of using these IoT items is that we become used to them and forget they are always
on, always collecting data (Palmer, 2017). The emergence of the data economy will further
promote use of connected devices and the data they produce. This emergence will give big
companies like Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft distinct advantages and power.
Algorithms can be implemented to predict when hardware needs servicing, when a person is at
risk for a disease, or is ready to buy a product.

Access to this data also gives an advantage over rivals and startups. By tracking “big data”,
large companies will be able to know new trending products and services as they happen,
giving them the opportunity to copy or purchase an upstart before it becomes a threat
th
st
(Economist, 2017). As data of the 21 century becomes what oil was in the 20 century,
companies will be staking their claims and digging deep in hopes of hitting some of that valuable
data.

46 Cyber Warnings E-Magazine – June 2017 Edition
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