The recent distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) IoT attack against DNS is a wake up call to how fragile the Internet can be.
The IoT attack against Domain Name Servers from a botnet of thousands of devices means it’s way past time to take IoT security seriously. The bad actors around the world who previously used PCs, servers and smartphones to carry out attacks have now set their sights on the growing tidal wave of IoT devices. It’s time for consumers and enterprises to protect themselves and others by locking down their devices, gateways and platforms. While staying secure is a never-ending journey, here’s a list of twelve actions you can take to get started:
- Change the default usernames and passwords on your IoT devices and edge gateways to something strong.
- Device telemetry connections must be outbound-only. Never listen for incoming commands or you’ll get hacked.
- Devices should support secure boot with cryptographically signed code by the manufacturer to ensure firmware is unaltered.
- Devices must have enough compute power and RAM to create a transport layer security (TLS) tunnel to secure data in transit.
- Use devices and edge gateways that include a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chip to securely store keys, connection strings and passwords in hardware.
- IoT platforms must maintain a list of authorized devices, edge gateways, associated keys and expiration dates/times to authenticate each device.
- The telemetry ingestion component of IoT platforms must limit IP address ranges to just those used by managed devices and edge gateways.
- Since embedded IoT devices and edge gateways are only secure at a single point in time, IoT platforms must be able to remotely update their firmware to keep them secure.
- When telemetry arrives in an IoT platform, the queue, bus or storage where data comes to rest must be encrypted.
- Devices and edge gateways managed by an IoT platform must update/rotate their security access tokens prior to expiration.
- Field gateways in the fog layer must authenticate connected IoT devices, encrypt their data at rest and then authenticate with upstream IoT platforms.
- IoT platforms must authenticate each device sending telemetry and blacklist compromised devices to prevent attacks.
Keeping the various components that make up the IoT value chain secure requires constant vigilance. In addition to doing your part, it’s important to hold the vendors of the IoT devices, gateways and platforms accountable for delivering technology that’s secure today and in the future.
