Overview of Network Security in Internet of Things

This paper analyses Internet of Things (IoT) technology holistically, giving its properties, applications and security issues. It covers the characteristics, areas of application and security concerns of IoT.


Abstract—Internet of Things represents the next evolution of
the internet. Through this technology devices and objects can
autonomously connect with each other without any form of
human intervention. This paper analyses this technology
holistically, giving its properties, applications and security
issues.
Keyword: Internet of Things, Information, Sensors
I. INTRODUCTION
Information technology is always transforming
into something new every day, constantly improving
the methods of communication. The internet is the
centerpiece of this technology having the ability to
connect billions of people worldwide notwithstanding
the countless devices. Today, through this medium
communication occurs in two major forms human to
human and human to device. However, the Internet of
Things (IoT), an advancement of the internet will
facilitate machine to machine (M2M) communication.
Although it will introduce a new paradigm in the
digital world, its functional elements will depend on
the existing technological infrastructure. As such, IOT
will represent a global interconnection system of
devices that will use the standard TCP/IP protocol to
automate machine interaction. At its helm, it will be a
network of networks having billions of private and
public connections across the globe. To better
understand this technology, this paper analyses IoT
from a research perspective, detailing its
characteristics, applications and security concerns.
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
Background
As a concept, IoT dates back to 1982 when a
modified coke machine was used to report its functions
after it was connected to the internet. This machine
was able to highlight the drinks it had including their
respective temperatures. Later on, in the 90s, scholars
such as Mark Weiser and Bill Joy gave the blueprint of
the idea having the general elements of device to
device communication through ubiquitous networks.
This structure is now seen today where the defining

components of IoT are in high abundance from smart
devices to autonomous communication systems [1]. In
all, the basic idea is to have an autonomous exchange
of information by unique and identifiable devices
across the world.
These devices would meet this objective
through leading technologies such as Wireless Sensor
Networks (WSN) and RFID (Radio Frequency
Identification). Essentially, each object is fitted with a
sensor device that serves the role of identification.
From this rudimentary state, objects then interact with
one another continuously exchanging data for decision
making without any form of human intervention [2].
Therefore, with the current levels of advanced
computing, the connectivity of low sensing devices are
being introduced into the world, an act that is serving
as the first phase of the IoT concept. Furthermore, with
the existing system analytics that uses data access and
data exchange the applications of IoT are already in
place, an outcome that sees over half of the internet
connections done between things. As such, IoT is not a
future technology but an existing technological
paradigm that is rapidly connecting devices across the
world.
Characteristics
A global sensing and activation function is
needed in all devices, systems, and facilities to
instigate IoT. In fact, to integrate all the various
systems of the world having different domains, a new
platform with more power and storage is needed. In
comparison to the conventional (traditional) approach,
this network should have a better battery capacity
while being of low cost and size. Now, the cost
variable facilitates all the areas of life such as the
medicine and the transportation industry providing
consistent operations [3]. On the other hand, the size is
important as the sensors should be invisible to the
naked eye, both for convenience and security purposes.
As such, IoT has the following characteristics:
Comprehensive perception: Two elements will
determine the implementation of perception;
identification and recognition. Sensors, RFID tags, and
two-dimensional barcode devices can be used for these
roles as they have the ability to collect objects’
Overview of Network Security
Internet of Things
First A. Author, Fellow, IEEE, Second B. Author, and Third C. Author, Jr., Member, IEEE

information at any given time or place. Through these
devices, communication and information systems are
invisibly integrated into the environment while sensory
networks allow people to interact with the virtual
world [4].
Reliable communication and transmission:
Using a variety of networks, object information is
transmitted across the digital world. Radio networks,
telecommunication systems, and the internet can serve
this role having a number of both wired and wireless
communication technologies. Furthermore, switching
and gateway technologies are then used to manage the
flow of information to ensure it ends up in the right
locations.
Intelligent data processing: Information is the
most important item in IoT operations, a fact that
necessitates the use of various intelligent computing
technologies to analyze data. Cloud computing,
artificial intelligence, and system analytics can be used
to support IoT applications. As such, the intelligent
technologies used to process data are the promoters of
IoT [4].
Areas of Application
IoT promises to extend the conveniences of
information technology into the real world. Unlike
before, the benefits of data analytics, unified
communication, and smart systems among other will
not be confined to digital devices but extended to the
users themselves. As such, IoT will have many
applications in the world such as smart cities/homes,
health, energy and environments among many others.
Smart Cities/homes: As an extension of the
existing home network, IoT will automate all the
objects found in homesteads from televisions sets to
physical doors. Essentially, wireless networks through
the Internet Protocol (IP) will facilitate the exchange of
information among devices while WSN will integrate
them into a holistic structure. From this environment,
multiple homes will extend their IoT functionalities to
wider areas to include cities, having the ability to
automate technological functions.
Smart Energy: Information and control can be
integrated into the energy industry to have a smart
energy management system. By collaborating ICT with
electricity networks the energy industry will be able to
have a real-time and two-way communication facility
for its services, which will create a dynamic interaction
between suppliers and consumers thus deliver
electricity in a more efficient way. Such a system will
consist of smart gadgets e.g. meters that will
automatically control and coordinate power functions
[5].
Smart Health: Consider patients whose
psychological status is to be monitored all the time.
IoT monitoring services can manage this task by
constantly collecting and analyzing psychological
information. Furthermore, using the affiliated
technologies of IoT such as cloud computing and
business intelligence predictions of patients’ outcome
can be given thus provide better tools for diagnosis [5].
III. SECURITY ISSUES
A lot of research has been done in the field of
IoT in an attempt to increase its practicality. At the
helm of this research has been its control and security
which arise because of two major factors; one, because
of its architecture that promotes an open system and
two, because of the internet infrastructure that even
today has its own security limitations. Therefore, even
before it is fully implemented, IoT inherently has
various security concerns that need addressing before a
worldwide application.
Security issues in IoT
Security of sensing devices: In its current
state, IoT does not provide adequate security protection
systems for its sensing objects. This limitation makes it
vulnerable to attacks owing to its functions that include
a variety of operations and energy requirements for the
connecting nodes. Thus, the security of the WSN,
RFID and M2M devices is affected as a variety of
security problems can be instigated. In all, the
following problems can be experienced; information
leakage, tracking, tampering, cloning, node replication,
and man-in-the-middle attacks etc. Therefore, from a
security perceptive, the issues at hand can be
categorized into three major parts. One, the secrecy
and authentication of physical devices which
guarantees the authorized systems are used. Two, the
service integrity where data collected meets all the
security requirements. Three, resource availability
where items such as network and data are made readily
available to the users [6].
Security issues in the physical layer: After the
sensing devices, the IoT model enters the physical
layer where the functions of modulation, encryption,
transmission and data reception are done. It is at this
layer that the generation of the carrier frequencies is
done which outlines serious security concern if it is
affected. Primarily, two security issues are highlighted;
node tampering and jamming. Denial of Service (DoS)
attacks represents the biggest threat as they occupy the
communication channels thus preventing information

exchange. This attack exploits the transmission of
radio waves where it introduces a lot of noise which
affects the transfer of legitimate data. On the other
hand, node tampering extracts data from radio waves
by snooping on the transmitted information.
Security concern of the network layer: IoT is
affiliated with many devices which have a variety of
data formats. This data is also collected from various
massive sources that have different and heterogeneous
characteristics. Therefore, by default, the IoT model
faces the concerns of illegal access, data
confidentiality, and integrity. These limitations occur
because of the access given to multiple objects which
on occasion can eavesdrop on sensitive data if inferior
security protocols are used. Furthermore, malware or
virus attacks can be used at this stage to compromise
the security measures put in place. At the same time,
the large number of communication nodes can also
lead to network congestion which in the end results in
DoS attacks [7].
Countermeasures
Comprehensive and dynamic solutions are
needed for the security issues identified above. The
countermeasures highlighted must, therefore, account
for technology’s characteristics, both in its current and
future forms.
Certification and secure access protocols:
Certification is a secure method of confirming the true
identities of the people involved in a communication
process. Similarly, the same technique can be used to
verify the access devices be it an RFID tag or WSN
device so that authentic equipment is used in the IoT
infrastructure. Tools such as the Public Key
Infrastructure can be used to provide a strong
authentication mechanism for identifying objects.
Moreover, certification authorities (notarization) can
serve as another solution for verifying the
communication nodes through a trusted third party
member. Finally, secure routing protocols designed for
the sensing devices can be introduced to mitigate the
problems of data leakage and tampering [7].
Access control: The second security issue
identified above compromises the physical layer by
gaining unauthorized access to transmission equipment
and data. By applying a comprehensive access control
system, this limitation is avoided. Basically, all
devices, machines, and people should be uniquely
identified to develop an access policy. This policy
would then base its functions on authorization levels
such as location and identity. Moreover, certification
would be correlated with access control as identities
are based on this solution. Therefore, access to any
resource on the IoT infrastructure would be based on
confidential passwords and exclusive rights. As such, a
secure key agreement scheme would be used to restrict
access across the physical layer, a tool that would
mitigate the attacks on the transmission of information
[8].
Data Encryption: Data confidentiality and
integrity are the main concerns in the third security
problem. Therefore, the countermeasure used should
base its solution on data as it is the main item in
question. Now, encryption protects information from
tampering which can occur in various forms such as
editing, deleting and interception. When an attacker
intercepts data, encryption ensures they are unable to
decipher it. Two general techniques are available for
this solution: Hop by Hop Encryption and End to End
Encryption. The first technique provides security
across all the nodes used by the IoT model by giving a
ciphertext for each stage. On the other hand, the second
technique performs both the functions of encryption
and encryption at the sender-receiver end sections. In
all, through encryption attacks affecting data such as
tampering, replay, and fabrication, can be avoided [8].
IV. CONCLUSION
IoT represents the next evolution of the
internet which throughout the years has propelled the
advances in information technology. Through IoT, the
efficiencies of IT are transferred into the real world
having integrated physical objects into the digital
environment. Now, although this process will have
many benefits to the users, it will also introduce
several security problems. These problems, like in any
other technology will require comprehensive solutions
geared towards the architectures of IoT. Nevertheless,
despite these drawbacks, IoT is set for a bright future
having implemented its foundational elements of the
existing digital platform.
V. RÉFÉRENCES

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