Security and Privacy Challenges in IoT

This assignment delves into the critical security and privacy challenges posed by the Internet of Things (IoT). It examines various threats, including data breaches, unauthorized access, and malicious attacks, specific to IoT devices and networks. The document analyzes vulnerabilities arising from limited processing power, resource constraints, and insecure communication protocols in IoT systems. Furthermore, it explores best practices for mitigating these risks, encompassing secure device design, robust authentication mechanisms, data encryption techniques, and privacy-preserving architectures. The assignment aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the complexities surrounding IoT security and privacy, emphasizing the need for proactive measures to safeguard sensitive information and ensure reliable operation in interconnected environments.

Running head: Professional Skills 1
Professional Skills

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Executive Summary
There is a rising threat faced by the business organisations because of network-attack, cyber-
attacks and privacy breaches. These are the most common and continuously rising thefts in the
digital business world. As the organisations are increasing the use of internet in almost all the
business functions the risks and threat of getting attacked is also snowballing. The small scale
organisation does not have much budget to ensure that their business processes are free from
such risks. Thus there is a need to have adequate steps in limited budget to overcome the threat
of these network security and privacy breach risks. Though, the following report will highlight
the network security issue and the ways it can be overcome or saved from. There will also be
provided several recommendations which can help the organisation to have safer and secure
functioning so that there can be successful business expansion without much risk of network-
attacks and malware ad ransom ware attacks.

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Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................2
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Network Security and its need for global businesses......................................................................3
Overview of Network and Cyber security and Privacy breach...................................................4
Developments, practices and applications in the field of network and information security......5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
Recommendations............................................................................................................................8
References......................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to develop a report highlighting various information and network
security issues which can hamper the businesses of several organisations. In present scenario,
there is a huge emphasis laid upon such cyber security and network issues because of the privacy
concerns of the customers. It is becoming difficult for the organisations to retain the customers
due to the privacy and security issues. The report will be prepared in respect with a small scale
organisation that develops applications in-house and customise off-the shelf software in
agreement with larger vendors (Liyanage, et al., 2016). The organisation is planning to diversify
its business by offering ongoing information and network security services to businesses that
have an online presence. And there is a need to effectively manage the online security of those
organisations, including their websites and client databases. The objective of this report is to
analyse the various possible solutions which can be taken use by the organisation in respect with
overcoming from all such issues. There will be provided a few recommendations which can help
the company to expand and diversify its business in the coming five years and to offer the
customers with secured are protected services without any kind of network and security
breaches. The key emphasis is led more upon the bottom line concerns i.e. the economic aspects
as the organisation is small scale and has a limited capital to invest on to save the business
processes from such issues (Bohli, Langendörfer and Skarmeta, 2013).
Network Security and its need for global businesses
There is increasing reliant upon the increasing and continuous use of internet in such a
digitalised global environment. Most of the work of both the small scale as well as large scale
organisations are now dependent upon internet and advanced technologies. Because of such
increasing reliant, it is essential to have adequate safeguards for protecting the businesses
transacting in the digitalised age (Khan, et al., 2016). The primary reason behind the initiatives
taken towards the networking and security is the rising threats and risks of cyber-attacks. And
this occurred as a strategic challenge for the organisations and the managers to take use of the
benefits of digital age and technological advancements but with sustaining the threat of security
issues and cyber-attacks (Stallings and Tahiliani, 2014). It has been seen that there is an

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increasing misuse of the technological advancements and the internet is posing a great threat to
cyber and network security and privacy of the users and thus the companies are taking innovative
steps to overcome these risks. It is also necessary for the organisation to identify as well as
mitigate the risks of networking issues and cyber-attacks and take adequate steps for minimizing
these risks (Spiekermann, et al., 2015).
Overview of Network and Cyber security and Privacy breach
Before understanding and analysing the various ways by which the organisation can successfully
expand its business overcoming the risks of network security, cyber security and privacy issue, it
is essential to under the relevance of the aspect of cyber security in the business operations.
Network security can be understand as the field of internet security where the main concentration
is on maintaining peace within the castle rather than focusing more upon the risks which are
present outside the castle (Roman, Zhou and Lopez, 2013). The key focus is on safeguarding
against the networking issues and risks which could take place inside the business operations and
breach the security. There is a big emphasis led upon securing the internal information of the
organisation by having an effective monitoring the networks as well as the employees in an
adequate manner. The companies install software of network security for protecting the business
operations, applications and processes from the cyber theft and privacy breach. There are hackers
that tricked the network security of the organisations by injecting the data, personal information
and codes as well as overtake the physical access to the software and hardware by different
hacking techniques (Sadeghi, Wachsmann and Waidner, 2015). And therefore, it has become one
of the top most issues in the globalised business world which is some or the other way
deteriorating the benefits of digital age and internet based technologies. There has been raised
vital significance of network security as the global businesses have to face a high cost because of
any kind of breach of network security and privacy breach. If the organisational data is sold off
in the markets, secretly monitored, misrepresented and have taken misused then it can cost huge
for the companies and specifically for the ones who are well recognized in the market (Liang, et
al., 2014). Many a times because of the network and security breaches there is leaked down of
the company’s confidential data, alteration of the organisation’s finances, taken negative use of
the users’ private data and locking out of the systems of the organisations so that even the
personnel do not have a right to open them. Such network attacks are taken used by the various
cyber hackers comprising phishing, tampering, spoofing and click jacking. And thus, it became

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extremely essential to save the organisations from these network security issues and privacy
breaches (Xiao and Xiao, 2013).
Developments, practices and applications in the field of network and information
security
There are several best practices and developments that have been taken sue by number of
companies and organisation in the technology industry to overcome the threat of privacy breach
and security issues. Following is the description of such practices, developments and applications
which have been used by several big and small organisations for securing themselves, their
business processes and the users from the network-attacks and privacy breaches.
Application of Firewalls
The firewalls are considered as the top most priority of the businesses taking use of internet as
the primary line of defence from such issues. It is advisable for the organisation to set up firewall
so that it could help the organisation is acting as great barricade between the hackers and the
confidential data and information of the organisation. These firewall must be installed both
internally as well as externally that there can be attained additional safety guard from the
network and security challenges. It is also essential that the employees who will be working from
their homes must have a fixed installation of firewall on their home too (Phillips and Sianjina,
2013). This will help in filling the gap and saving those employees also from getting hacked and
thus this application of the firewalls will help the company to expand its business and diversify
its portfolio by managing all these issues of network-attacks (Wang, et al., 2016).
Network Security Policy Documentation
It is extremely essential that the various protocols regarding the network security are
appropriately documented. At the businesses where a protection plan is not applied in a proper
way, there can be breach of the safety precautions. Thus, it makes important for the organisation
to have an adequate documentation of the network security policy. There is not only saving of
data through thee network security policies but also retainment of the valuable human resources
and financial resources (Bayuk, Healey and Rohmeyer, 2012). The various actions that the
employees undertake both internally as well as externally have a direct impact upon the business
sustainability. And thus, even the actions and activities of an individual employee could result in

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breach of privacy of the confidential data of the organisation that comprises of user/customer
information, ranging from personal details, to financial records, commercial transactions,
sensitive information and other online login details. There is required to have application of the
detailed toolkits as used by other organisations which can support in determining and
documenting the policies of network security (Sicari, 2015).
Applications for backing up data
Even the business organisations deploy a number of resources; there are still some loopholes
which can give a chance to the hackers to attack the network security and privacy of the users.
Thus, it is necessary that there must be effective back up of all the data comprising of the files
related to the personal information of the customers, human resource files, databases, financial
and operational data, spread sheets and other various documents (Rittinghouse and Ransome,
2016). It is essential that the businesses must have a practice of backing up the data on a regular
and continuous basis on the cloud as well as multiple locations to overcome the risk of data loss
and breaching of networks. This will not only support in getting back the lost data but also in
getting attentive and take one step high during a network-attack as all the data will be secured at
some or the other place. The organisation in its coming five years to have safer business
operations can take use of renowned applications such as Comodo/Time Machine, Dropbox, etc.
for backing up its data. These applications are effective enough in ensuring that the business
applications and processes are safe and secure. The files on which the users and employees are
working are not only synced to the installed application but also have a complete sync with the
main servers of the application. This ensures that all the current work and other data is secured
and kept safely backed up (Botta, et al., 2014).
Installation of the anti-malware and anti-ransom ware software
It is a basic and mandatory to be applied knowledge that the various phishing emails must not be
opened by the organisational employees. There was presented in the reports of Data Breach
Investigations by Verizon for the year 2016 that almost thirty percent of the employees access
these phishing emails and this percentage is approximately seven percent higher in comparison
with the data of 2015 (Segal, 2017). And to avoid such malware and ransom ware attacks, there
is a much need that the organisations must install anti-malware as anti-ransom ware software to

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protect the users, their privacy and other network security. To overcome the issue there are
various anti-malware software which can be used by the organisations such as NPE, MSRT,
Hitman Pro, Zemana, etc. Once this software is installed, the businesses can be saved from the
malware attacks. And to save from the ransom ware network attack, there is recognized software
such as Trend Micro, BitDefender Anti-Ransomware, Kaspersky Internet Security, etc. Such
software protects the confidential data and the information in the digital age and save the
organisations from network and cyber-attacks. The installation of the anti-malware and anti-
ransom ware software can help the business to have safe business operations as well as will help
to expand the businesses with several online companies by securing their data, passwords and
confidential data of the users (Fisher, et al., 2015).
Planning the mobile devices
In such a digitalised and techno savvy age, all the devices have transformed completely by
changing themselves from just being simple computers to the highly updated, wireless,
digitalised gadgets. In present scenario, most of the companies have allowed BYOD i.e. Bring
Your Own Device which is posing a great threat to the security and privacy of the organisations
as well as the users. There are present fitness trackers as well as technology based smart watches
that have the wireless potential that can deteriorate the network and security of the company and
its processes. Thus, it is very much essential that BYOD and relative policies must be included in
the network security policy of the organisations. He employees were required to effective update
the security of the individual devices as well as must also follow the password policy which is
required to be applied on all those electronic devices which have probability to attack the
network security and privacy of the users and the organisation (Moore, Dynes and Chang, 2016).
Conclusion
Based open the discussions performed in the preceding segments of the report; it is clearly
evident that the network security possess a great significance for the business organisations to
perform, continue and expand their businesses as well as to enhance their performances. In such
a global and digitalised age, where all the things have a connection with each other has resulted
in increased threats and risks of network security that make the business organisations helpless.
The network attacks have a potential to threaten the company as well as the users and can even

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run the company by stealing complete information as well as damaging the organisation from the
financial perspective. It is essential that that the business organisation must adopt and implement
an adequate network resilience policy as well as must have proper installation of the anti-
malware and anti-ransom ware software to avoid the risks of attacks from the hackers. Through
gaining insights from the various application, practices and development done by several other
companies to save themselves from such attacks, it is essential that there must be take adequate
initiatives while expanding the business operations. And it is further make essential for the
business organisation to implement best possible practices with limited budget for securing
themselves and the users from such networking threats and risk of privacy breaching. Other than
the above suggested application and practices, there are few recommendations which can help
the organisation to expand its business successfully with higher level of network security and
appropriate safety measures for the new customers. The following recommendation can support
the organisation to manage online security while developing application and also securing the
websites and client databases in an appropriate manner.
Recommendations
Following are few of the recommendations based upon the various findings and proposed
solution to overcome the threat of breach of network security and privacy of the users and their
databases.
 In future, there are high chances that the organisations will take use of robotics
technology for managing its operations but there are several risks of cyber-attacks and
network attacks, thus it is recommended that there must new developments as well as
taken use of software which are smart enough to analyse the future vulnerabilities before
the time they get exposed and thus reduce the level of risks (Sen, 2013).
 It is also recommended that there must be performed a third party internal security as
well as external security audits on a regular basis so that the networks can be modify
when there are some issues or security problems to save from the hackers (Ziegeldorf,
Morchon and Wehrle, 2014).
 The next key recommendation is that there must be an effective control over the end
points for securing the databases, websites and personal information of the users. There

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must be complete knowledge of the software, legacy codes, custom code and other
configurations so that the data can be secured effectively (Yang, et al., 2015).
 It is also recommended that there must be complete auditing of the web applications as
they are highly vulnerable to attacks and privacy breaches. Thus, of these vulnerabilities
are identified, the organisation can prepare themselves to escape from such network-
attacks (Trappe, Howard and Moore, 2015).
 It is recommended that the employees as well as the users must be offered with adequate
trainings regarding the phishing emails as they can attack on the personal accounts,
business systems and other confidential information. Thus, as soon as some suspect is
found, there must be taken appropriate initiatives (Rao and Selvamani, 2015).

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References
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computing. Procedia Computer Science, 48, 204-209.

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