Security in IoT - Literature Review and Current/Future Security Issues

This paper presents a literature review on security in IoT and highlights the current and future security issues, threats, attacks, challenges, and countermeasures. It also discusses the characteristics of IoT compared to traditional networks and its application areas in healthcare, smart retail, and home automation.

Running Head: SECURITY IN IOT 1
Security in IoT
Institution
Name
Date

2SECURITY IN IOT
Literature Review
These days individuals are progressively reliant on the Internet to direct their day by day
exercises. Because of this, there has been a rise in the use of the Internet of Things (IoT).
Subsequently, it has essentially expanded the gadgets associated with the Internet; stretching
around of 20 billion associated gadgets, and is relied upon to achieve 50 billion out of 2020. This
has made extraordinary difficulties for keeping up security and protection of data on the grounds
that most cell phones center around availability and are including default settings where security
is extremely influenced. This paper introduces the outcomes got by the convention of precise
audit to set up the present condition of security in IoT gadgets. The fundamental concerns,
dangers, assaults, difficulties, and a few countermeasures have been highlighted
Introduction
Internet of Things (IoT) is a representation of a universal idea for the capability of
devices that are connected in a network to detect and gather the data collected from our
environment, this collected data then is sent through the internet and thereafter it is used in
different fields as explained in [1].
A “thing” in the Internet of Things can represent a vehicle fitted with an automatic speed
sensor which sends alerts to the driver on the speed status, a person implanted with a heart sensor
recording and sending the condition of the heart or any of the man-made or natural objects that
are given abilities to send data through a network.

3SECURITY IN IOT
Characteristics of the Internet of Things compared to the traditional network
Intelligence
Internet of Things is smart devices since they have a collection of calculations and
algorithms, hardware and software according to the work in [2]. The intelligence in this IoTs
raises the abilities which enable the objects to intelligently respond to a given condition and
aiding in doing those particular tasks. In contrast to traditional networks, IoT devices such as
automated vacuum cleaners do their work independently due to the intelligence. IoT intelligence
in specifically referred as a way of interaction among the devices even with the advancement in
smart technologies. Graphical user interface and any other input ways that are standard are used
in the interaction between the user and the devices.
Connectivity
Internet of Things is empowered by the connectivity that brings together daily life
objects. The connectivity between these object is important because primary object level
fundamental interactions promote corporate intelligence in a network of the Internet of Thing [3].
It facilitates the compatibility and accessibility of the network. Vehicles fitted with automatic
speed sensors are able to connect and send the speed status to the authorities over the internet,
unlike the traditional networks which would have just stored than to be read manually or to be
sent by the user.
Sensing abilities
Sensing capabilities is a crucial component of the Internet of Things which does not exist
in traditional networks. The work in [4] states that IoTs are equipped with sensors to detect any

4SECURITY IN IOT
disparities in the surrounding and provide information about the status of that given environment.
Technology in sensing gives a way to come up with abilities reflecting an awareness that is true
about the people and the real world. For instance, sensors implanted on an organ like the human
heart which gives information such as the heart beats.
Heterogeneity of IoTs
Heterogeneity is the ability of Internet of Things to interact with other devices that have
different hardware and software programs over various networks. The architecture of the IoT
must be design to support devices connected to a network directly amongst the heterogeneous
networks. This capability may be present in traditional networks where most of the only
compatible with some selected networks [3].
Application areas of Internet of Things
Application of IoT on Healthcare
Internet of Things is getting useful in the field of Healthcare such as surveillance of
patients, detection of fall, care of sportsmen, medical fridges among others applications. For
example, the fall detectors will assist the elderly and the disabled who live on their own [6]. This
will reduce the medical issues and increase the joy of being healthy. In the near future, IoT will
provide a device that takes the measurements of Ultraviolet rays of the sun to reduce the
infection from this kind of pollution.
IoT application in Smart Retail

5SECURITY IN IOT
Smart retails such as product tagging has come due to IoT technology, product tagging
enables retailers to get a lot of benefits including effective and accurate inventory as per the
experts in the business field. Then retail sectors where the Internet of things has promoted
include wireless tracking and sensing, virtual reality, home replenishment and home hubs among
others. The retailers will be able to get more information about the users because of the IoT
characteristic which assists in aggregating private and public sources of information [5].
Home Automation and Building
Control systems for most if not all of the homes and buildings have been easily
maintained and more concentrated by the Internet of Things and this is among the greatest
achievements of IoT. Measuring of water usage and electricity is possible because of the
immense contributions of IoT which make it easy to comprehend how resources are being
utilized and planning for the future expenses [7]. This will also extend to goods and art
preservation of in museums and it will make it possible to monitor their status.
Current or future security issues in IoT and its countermeasures and tools used.
Critical security issues in the Internet of Things
Internet of Things encounters several security issues due to various reasons, each of the
three layers faces some security issues as analyzed in [8].
Perception Layer
Perception layer of the IoT faces three security issues itself. Interception of the sensor
node by either owner or the unauthorized person in IoT gadgets this is due to the fact that nodes

6SECURITY IN IOT
are operated in outdoor and the external environment which exposes sensors to the physical
attack as the attacker can interfere with the hardware of the IoT devices. Secondly, poor strength
of the wireless signals. The transmission of the signals from one node to another is through
wireless network technology where the signal efficiency is disturbed by the waves within the
environment. The third and the last security issue in perception layer of the IoT is underlying
quality of the topology of the network which is able to change and adapt constantly since the
nodes of IoT are more often than not taken to various locations. This perceptions layer of the IoT
is majorly made of Radio Frequency Identifications (RFID) and sensors where its power usage,
computation abilities and capacity of the storage make the weak in terms of the security. This
layer can easily be attacked by altering, replaying or spooling the specific data in the IoT devices
[9].
This security issues in perception layer can be minimized or solved by using end-to-end
or point-to-point encryption, verifying the identities of the devices in the network through the
authentication process and taking fool control of those devices who are able to access the
network.
The issues in this section can also be solved by the trust among the owners which helps in
the trust among the owners helps in the passage of the IoT devices in relation to permissions and
access control since the IoT devices move from one owner to the other in a physical way.
Issues in the Network Layer
The network layer of the Internet of Things is vulnerable to Denial of Service (DoS)
attempts, passive monitoring, and eavesdropping [10]. The main reason why this attack happens

7SECURITY IN IOT
is due to the exchange of data among the IoT devices and the mechanism of the remote access.
This layer is extremely vulnerable to eavesdropping by the attackers within the network. The
eavesdropping of a given IoT device in a network leads to complete compromise of the
communication link. The primary exchange mechanism should be accorded maximum security
to forbid attackers from eavesdropping. The increases security issues in IoT devices compared to
those devices on the internet is due to communication between the machines and the
heterogeneity of IoT devices making them impossible to apply present network protocols. This
protocols would have provided high security among the devices on the network. The fact that
IoT devices are connected for the purpose of gaining more information on users to be used in the
future criminal offenses makes it vulnerable to the attackers.
Protection of objects in the network and network protection is a basic action to be taken.
Objects in the network must be able to defend themselves against the attackers and to be able to
understand the status of the network in terms of the security. This security measure can be
possibly attained with a software and the well-programmed protocols able to deal with a security
issue in a network.
The solution for security issues in this point is solved by creating security platforms in
each and every IoT gadget which will be responsible in preventing attacker and knowing exactly
when the attacker when they or will try to attack. This method will call for organized intelligent
actions by the providers of the IoT. The IoT providers should also ensure auto-updates to the
software which in turn will be able to deal with any incoming attack.

8SECURITY IN IOT
The large amount of data that are transmitted by the IoT devices over the network should
be encoded with a robust encryption to secure them against the attackers any kind of unencrypted
data should be avoided since the attackers take advantage of this.
Security issues in the application layer
There are numerous issues that associate with the security of the application due to lack
global standards and policies in IoT rules which controls and restricts the application
development. It is extremely hard to ascertain the identity authentication and privacy of data
since various applications have different authentication mechanism. The many numbers of the
connected Internet of Things devices on a network that participate in data sharing process will
cause an enormous overhead on applications that processes and analyze data which in turn can
highly affect the service availability as clearly analyzed in [11]. Many issues must be taken into
consideration when creating the applications. These are issues include the person who will be
responsible for managing the applications, how various users will act together with the
applications and lastly the quantity of information that will be disclosed. The user should possess
the tools used in data control on basics of data to be revealed and must understand how those
data will be used at which time by who.
In this case of application layer which lack global standards and policies, the architecture
of Internet of Things should have a global architecture with a centralized system or internal
independence able to overpower the heterogeneity of different devices, protocols, and software.
There should be mechanisms responsible for enforcing this policies and standards.

9SECURITY IN IOT
References
[1] Silva, B. N., Khan, M., & Han, K. (2017). Internet of things: a comprehensive review
of enabling technologies, architecture, and challenges. IETE Technical Review, 1-16.
[2] Lee, I., & Lee, K. (2015). The Internet of Things (IoT): Applications, investments,
and challenges for enterprises. Business Horizons, 58(4), 431-440.
[3] Xu, K., Qu, Y., & Yang, K. (2016). A tutorial on the internet of things: From a
heterogeneous network integration perspective. IEEE Network, 30(2), 102-108.

10SECURITY IN IOT
[4] Jin, J., Gubbi, J., Marusic, S., & Palaniswami, M. (2014). An information framework
for creating a smart city through internet of things. IEEE Internet of Things Journal, 1(2), 112-
121.
[5] Benardos, P. G., & Vosniakos, G. C. (2017). Internet of things and industrial
applications for precision machining. In Solid State Phenomena (Vol. 261, pp. 440-447). Trans
Tech Publications.
[6] Islam, S. R., Kwak, D., Kabir, M. H., Hossain, M., & Kwak, K. S. (2015). The
internet of things for health care: a comprehensive survey. IEEE Access, 3, 678-708.
[7] Hui, T. K., Sherratt, R. S., & Sánchez, D. D. (2017). Major requirements for building
Smart Homes in Smart Cities based on Internet of Things technologies. Future Generation
Computer Systems, 76, 358-369.
[8] Farooq, M. U., Waseem, M., Khairi, A., & Mazhar, S. (2015). A critical analysis on
the security concerns of internet of things (IoT). International Journal of Computer
Applications, 111(7).
[9] Puthal, D., Nepal, S., Ranjan, R., & Chen, J. (2016). Threats to networking cloud and
edge datacenters in the internet of things. IEEE Cloud Computing, 3(3), 64-71.
[10] Perera, C., Liu, C. H., & Jayawardena, S. (2015). The emerging internet of things
marketplace from an industrial perspective: A survey. IEEE Transactions on Emerging Topics in
Computing, 3(4), 585-598.

11SECURITY IN IOT
[11] Borgohain, T., Kumar, U., & Sanyal, S. (2015). Survey of security and privacy
issues of Internet of Things. arXiv preprint arXiv:1501.02211.