Analyzing IoT Security Challenges and Solutions

This assignment analyzes various research papers on Internet of Things (IoT) security. It examines the different communication models used in IoT, highlights the major security concerns including privacy, confidentiality, interoperability, and legal considerations. The papers discussed also delve into potential solutions and countermeasures for addressing these challenges, emphasizing the importance of authentication, trust establishment, and security awareness.

Annotated Bibliography
Internet of Things
9/6/2017

Annotated Bibliography
Abomhara, M., & Koien, G. (2015). Cyber Security and the Internet of Things: Vulnerabilities,
Threats, Intruders and Attacks. Retrieved 6 September 2017, from
https://www.riverpublishers.com/journal/journal_articles/RP_Journal_2245-
1439_414.pdf
The success of IoT applications and services is unquestionable. However, with the expansion of
these services, there is also an increase in the security threats and attacks that has been witnessed.
Abomhara and Koien have explained the vulnerabilities, threats, intruders and attacks in
association with the IoT applications. They have made use of the research methodology as
qualitative research and have made good use of the references comprising of research papers,
journal articles and online libraries. Devices, resources, entities and services are the four
components that are primarily involved in an IoT model. There are hardware vulnerabilities that
are present in the IoT applications due to compatibility and interoperatibility of the hardware
components. There are also software vulnerabilities that are present in terms of the operating
system and application software due to design flaws, technical issues and likewise. There are
structured and unstructured threats that are associated with the IoT applications. Some of the
common attacks associated with IoT include physical attacks, reconnaissance attacks, denial of
service and access attacks along with the attacks on privacy. These attacks can be deliberate or
accidental in nature depending upon the intruder that is involved. It is necessary to attain privacy
and security goals by maintaining information properties, such as, confidentiality, integrity,
accountability and availability. The authors could have also used tables for explaining the details
of the threats and their corresponding countermeasures.
Barcena, M., & Wueest, C. (2015). Insecurity in the Internet of Things. Retrieved 6 September
2017, from
https://www.symantec.com/content/dam/symantec/docs/white-papers/insecurity-in-the-
internet-of-things-en.pdf
Internet of Things (IoT) is a technology that has provided the users with many advantages and
capabilities. However, there are certain challenges that the users face in association with the IoT
applications and one such area is the security of IoT. There are various security challenges that
have emerged with the expansion of IoT. Barcena and Wueest have covered these issues. The
primary attack agents and surfaces that are used by the attackers for execution include the
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physical access, local access using the networks, cloud infrastructure and malware. The authors
have listed many of the mitigation steps that may be used, such as, use of stronger passwords,
installation of security updates, use of separate home networks, analysis of the IoT vendor and
likewise. The IoT technologies that are used shall also be upgraded to their latest versions for the
prevention and avoidance of the attacks. The authors have made use of qualitative research
methodology and have used numerous data sources for information gathering. They could have
also included the references from the real-life case studies for strengthening their work.
Buyya, R., & Dastjerdi, A. (2016). Internet of Things: Principles and Paradigms. Retrieved 6
September 2017, from http://www.buyya.com/papers/IoT-Book2016-C1.pdf
Rajkumar Buyya and Amir Vahid Dastjerdi have penned down a book on the principles and
paradigms that are associated with IoT. The book is divided in five parts that talk about IoT
Ecosystem Concepts and Architectures, IoT Enablers and Solutions, IoT Data and Knowledge
Management, IoT reliability, Security and Privacy and IoT Applications. There are seventeen
chapters present in the book with several sections and sub-sections. The authors have attempted
to cover details of every component that is associated with IoT and have made use of action
research, grounded theory and observation as their primary methods of research. The use of
diagrams and graphics could have been enhanced in the book that has been written.
Chase, J. (2013). The Evolution of the Internet of Things. Retrieved 6 September 2017, from
http://www.ti.com/lit/ml/swrb028/swrb028.pdf
IoT is a concept that has expanded itself rapidly and it has allowed the development of a network
of things that can be sensed, controlled and programmed. There is a great use of embedded
technology in the IoT applications that has been explained by the author of the white paper, Jim
Chase. There are still several enhancements that can be done in this area that distinguishes the
IoT of today from the IoT of tomorrow. There are certain attributes and parameters that are
required to be paid attention to so that IoT applications can be correctly designed, developed and
deployed. The same have come up as major challenges in association with IoT such as
connectivity issues, security issues, complexity issues, power management, and rapid evolution.
The author could have also talked about the compatibility and privacy concerns that are
associated with IoT.
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Evans, D. (2011). The Internet of Things How the Next Evolution of the Internet Is Changing
Everything. Retrieved 6 September 2017, from
https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en_us/about/ac79/docs/innov/IoT_IBSG_0411FINAL.pdf
Internet has evolved over the ages and there is a lot of work that is being done in the area of
development and enhancement of the Internet. Internet of Things (IoT) is one of the latest
contributions that is made by the use and application of Internet. Evans has described the
evolution of Internet by explaining its latest addition as IoT in the whitepaper. A combination of
qualitative and quantitative methods of research have been used and applied in the paper to
present the information that is supported by facts and figures. The author has described IoT as a
network of networks that is not restricted to computing devices and networks. There are
electronic gadgets, household appliances, human resources and other elements that are also
involved in the IoT applications. The use and importance of IoT has been explained with the aid
of real-life scenarios and examples. There are several barriers and challenges that are also
associated with IoT in terms of deployment, standards and sensor energy. The author could have
also explained the steps that may be used for the resolution of the IoT issues.
Jing, Q., Vasilakos, A., Wan, J., Lu, J., & Qiu, D. (2014). Security of the Internet of Things:
perspectives and challenges. Retrieved 6 September 2017, from
http://csi.dgist.ac.kr/uploads/Seminar/1407_IoT_SSH.pdf
There are a lot of basic and advanced equipment that are used in the Internet of Things (IoT)
applications. Some of these technologies and equipment include RFID and Wireless Sensor
Networks (WSNs). Jing and the co-authors of the article have explained the security architecture
of IoT. The security architecture includes three layers as perception layer, network layer and
application layer. The security issues have been excellently displayed in the form of a diagram.
The authors have used tables for making sure that the information associated with the layer
specific security issues is clearly explained. Also, the information regarding the countermeasures
that can be used for preventing and avoiding these attacks is also included and explained with
clarity. The method of research that is used by the authors in the article includes the
amalgamation of qualitative and quantitative research methods. There are one hundred and
twenty different sources that have been referenced in the article that explains the level of
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research and the quality of the information that is included. The authors could have also used
more number of case studies as referrals.
Lu, C. (2014). Overview of Security and Privacy Issues in the Internet of Things. Retrieved 6
September 2017, from https://www.cse.wustl.edu/~jain/cse574-14/ftp/security.pdf
Security and privacy issues associated with IoT are a prime matter of concern for the
organizations. The IoT architecture comprises of various layers and protocols such as physical
layer, network layer, transport layer and application layer. The security issues in association with
IoT have been explained by the author by illustrating the layer specific concerns. Most of the IoT
security issues are executed because of the network surface as the attack agent. Some of these
attacks include selective forwarding attack, wormhole attack, sinkhole attack, overload attack
and many more. There is a violation of regulatory and legal policies that has been witnessed that
leads to the emergence of privacy issues. The author has made use of only two figures in the
article which could have been enhanced so that the ease of understanding could have improved.
Madakam, S., Ramaswamy, R., & Tripathi, S. (2015). Internet of Things (IoT): A Literature
Review. Retrieved 6 September 2017, from
https://file.scirp.org/pdf/JCC_2015052516013923.pdf
The current buzzword in the field of technology is the Internet of Things (IoT). IoT has the
capability to transform the real world objects and components in the intelligent virtual entities.
Madakam and the co-authors of the article have focused upon the meaning, requirements and the
basic concepts that are associated with IoT. The authors have defined IoT as an open network of
the intelligent objects that have the capability to automatically organize themselves and share the
resources and information as per the requirements of the environment. A timeline of the changes
and transformations in the area of IoT principles and norms has also been included. Radio
Frequency Identification (RFID), Internet Protocol (IP), Electronic Product Code (EPC),
Barcode, Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi), Bluetooth, ZigBee, Near Filed Communications (NFC),
Actuators, Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are the
technologies on which IoT applications are constructed upon. The architectural details of IoT
have been covered by the authors. The authors do not talk about the various security issues and
concerns that are witnessed in the area of IoT.
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Mattern, F., & Floerkemeier, C. (2014). From the Internet of Computers to the Internet of
Things. Retrieved 6 September 2017, from
http://www.vs.inf.ethz.ch/publ/papers/Internet-of-things.pdf
IoT is a technology that is composed of several elements and RFID, IP stacks, and web servers
play a significant role in most of the IoT applications. The authors, Mattern and Floerkemeier,
have discussed the technological building blocks in the IoT applications along with the
associated challenges, usage errors and scenarios. IoT has a vision to minimize the gap between
the real world and the virtual world. It is because of the reason that there are many real-life
components that are used and are involved in the IoT applications. Some of the technological
building blocks in IoT include RFID tags and sensors, web servers and services, IP stacks,
Smartphones, computer networks, computer systems, electronic appliances and many more.
Some of the common technological challenges associated with IoT include scalability,
interoperatibility and compatibility issues. There are also issues associated with data volumes,
security and privacy along with the power supply. The concepts of RFID communications, IP of
things and web of things has been explained by the authors. The authors could have included
case studies and real-life examples in the article.
Rose, K., Eldridge, S., & Chapi, L. (2015). Internet of Things: An Overview - Understanding the
Issues and Challenges of a More Connected World. Retrieved 6 September 2017, from
https://www.internetsociety.org/sites/default/files/ISOC-IoT-Overview-20151014_0.pdf
Internet of Things (IoT) is a technology that comprises of numerous communication models such
as device-to-device, device-to-cloud, device-to-gateway and back end data sharing models.
Karen Rose and the co-authors of the research paper have covered the meaning, origin and the
details of the concepts that are associated with IoT. The communication models along with the
challenges that are associated with IoT applications have been described. The challenges have
been listed in the categories of security issues, privacy issues, interoperatibility issues and legal
considerations. The economical and developmental issues have also been discussed. There are
several questions that are associated with each of the category of the challenges that has been
covered to explain the root cause behind the emergence of the IoT challenges. The authors have
used figures and diagrams only under the description of the communication models. There could
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have been enhanced use of the diagrams to attain better readability and engagement of the
readers.
Sicari, S., Rizzardi, A., Grieco, L., & Coen-Porisin, A. (2015). Security, Privacy & Trust in
Internet of Things: the road ahead. Retrieved 6 September 2017, from
http://telematics.poliba.it/publications/2015/Sicari2015.pdf
Information confidentiality, authenticity and access control are the measures that play an
important role in the maintenance of security. Sicari and the co-authors of the article have
highlighted the areas of security privacy and trust in internet of things. The major set of security
issues have been represented in the form of a diagram and include privacy issues, mobile device
issues, confidentiality and availability issues, trust issues and policy enforcement. The authors
have elaborated all of these areas in association with the security of IoT applications. The forms
of threats and attacks along with the countermeasures that may be used have been explained in
the article. There is just one diagram that has been included in the article. The authors have made
good use of their research method and references but should have also included more diagrams
and tables.
Yousuf, T., Mahmoud, R., Aloul, F., & Zualkernan, I. (2015). Internet of Things (IoT) Security:
Current Status, Challenges and Countermeasures. Retrieved 6 September 2017, from
http://www.aloul.net/Papers/faloul_ijisr15.pdf
IoT Security is a major matter of concern for the present day organizations and users. Yousuf
and the other authors have covered the current status of IoT security, the challenges that are
associated with IoT along with the countermeasures that may be adopted to deal with these
issues. The IoT layers explained by the authors comprise of three layers as perception, network
and application. The general and layer specific security issues have been explained by the
authors in the article. There are certain IoT principles that are required to be followed as
confidentiality, integrity, availability, heterogeneity, key management, lightweight solutions and
policies. It has been recommended to understand the issues that are present in each layer and
implement the countermeasures accordingly. The authors have made good use of the tables and
diagrams to explain these risks and attacks. Authentication measures along with trust
establishment, federated architecture and security awareness are some of the suggested
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countermeasures. The future steps of actions to maintain the security have also been included in
the article. The use of case studies could have improved the usability of the solution.
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