Are the IoT devices as secure as they seem?

Look around you… How many objects do you see that are not connected to the internet? Few of them, right? The Internet of Things (IoT) is growing rapidly, and some studies affirm that by 2020, there will be more than 40 billion intelligent devices.

Connected Devices and Their Impact

Thousands of millions of things will “talk” with each other: televisions, fridges, cars, watches, jewelry, health monitors… Everything we can imagine, and more, will be smart and gifted with intelligence. This will mean (in fact, it is already meaning) a significant impact on how we interact with and perceive the world around us. Are you prepared to live what always has been supposed to be the future: the machine revolution? At Accent Systems, we are sure about it. Yes, yes, and yes! But we are also conscious that there are some risks that need to be considered.

Security, Our Priority

The concern today is the security of the connected devices we design, an essential part without which our product wouldn’t have the trust of our customers and the final user. Our CTO, Oriol Patau, explains that it is very important that the information in the cloud sent by an IoT device is secure. “If somebody can hijack the infrastructure or use the data that has been traveling without being encrypted, obviously we’ll have a problem with the system we’ve paid for, and a third person will take advantage of it illicitly.”

Building Trust in IoT

Users need to know that their information is not going to be violated and must trust 100% in the IoT product. Without this confidence, IoT will never achieve its maximum potential.

Being immersed in the Internet of Things means each aspect of our lives is connected to the internet through objects, and this implies all our personal information is collected in the net, and the user cannot control them. They float in what’s called “cloud,” but do we know exactly where they are and who controls these data?

Security from Conception

In our company, we consider that the security mechanisms and data protection of an intelligent device should be part of it from its conception, and we give these elements the same importance as the technical aspects of the solution. “In all our projects, we analyze the rank of security we have to incorporate,” says Patau. “We foresee from simple manipulations to those which could be done by somebody with a high level of knowledge. We like to do a test where we verify that not even the engineers who have worked on the development of the project could hack the device.”

For us, security and privacy are priorities, and we guarantee each IoT solution we develop is secure and has the appropriate defense mechanism.

3 Elements to Develop a Secure Connected Device

When developing a secure IoT device, we must consider three essential aspects. They are not always indispensable, but they depend on the kind of product we are creating.

Bidirectional Authentication

IoT devices establish communication between a server and a connected object. To guarantee the security of this communication, we must ensure both systems are valid, verifying that the identity of the other is reliable. Patau gives us an example: “It’s similar to what happens in spy movies, where a password is necessary to verify the identity of the other person. IoT devices must do the same.”

Encryption

Another key to developing a secure IoT device is that the product should be able to send encrypted data, with an indecipherable code for those who don’t have the knowledge and technology to read it.

Tamper Evidence

This security system is used to control when a device has been internally manipulated without permission. The intrusion is registered and sent to whoever manages the device. “For example,” explains Patau, “an intelligent meter box would have a sensor to detect possible manipulations that would send this information to the electric company.”

Our Projects, a Guarantee for the User

At Accent Systems, we work to connect the world through intelligent devices, and the Internet of Things is our umbrella. After a decade of expertise developing solutions for third parties, today we can be proud that all the projects we start, all the services we offer, and all the products we create have the will to guarantee security and privacy to the final user.