Access Security Vulnerabilities of IoT Devices: A Research Thesis

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NEF6102 Research Thesis 2
Research Title:
Access security vulnerabilities of IoT devices
Trimester: 2, 2019
Student Name:
Supervisor Name:
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Table of Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................3
Research Questions...............................................................................................................................5
Literature Review..................................................................................................................................6
Methodology.........................................................................................................................................8
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................10
References...........................................................................................................................................11
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Introduction
Internet of things is a technique which provides information collected from sensors and software
and different forms of data sharing techniques. There is a network of devices connected over
communication system like digital machines and different physical devices. The study is based on the
access security vulnerabilities present in IoT devices. The security vulnerabilities and other security
related issues has been considered in the research. The issues related to the security of IoT devices
are that due to weak network support and insecure authentication process, IoT devices can be easily
access. In some cases the access credentials such as password are so weak that they can be easily
available by a brute-force attack, thus these issues needs to be considered. IoT devices are used in
various places from smart homes to smart medical systems IoT devices are present, this much use
has made it more vulnerable to attack. Thus, in the present research different technologies related
to IoT has been compared to find the best possible solutions for security vulnerability in IoT, the
methodology section contains processes such as implementation of proper IoT, proof for validation
and evaluation of the implementation all of these considering a single IoT application.
Here, information related to the IoT security vulnerabilities will be provided and how the research
will be conducted and what information will be available in the research will be included. It will
include description of project, research aim, and research timeline and methodology of research.
The IoT security vulnerabilities related to secure access has been considered by various researchers
and thus a lot of solutions are available for the problem, but as the system is adding new features,
new vulnerabilities are getting added by default which needs to be considered. The information
exchange is done using the smartphone devices, over which the data transfer is done, the exchange
of information is done over these devices. For providing the solutions to the vulnerabilities
embedded security is provided among different layers like endpoint, application, network and data.
In the different layer for the network media and physical layers require protection. The security
posture and strategy based on cloud is incorporated for better security.
For mobile devices the wide area network is considered in the IoT, which is low power wide area
network. IoT is made up by incorporating various devices and connecting them over a network. Thus,
the network required for the IoT devices is LPWA, which will connect majority of devices by
consuming low cost and consists of low data rates, the battery life required should be long enough
and the connectivity is provided to even remote locations. For a better service by the LPWA in
mobile devices the requirement is high thus it is implemented with technologies like long term
evolution for machines and narrow band IoT termed as LTE-M and NB-IoT. Mobile devices are able
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to provide more personalized experience to the users, thus embedding of the IoT in mobile makes it
more personalized approach for the users. There are various advantages of the embedding of IoT in
mobile devices like it provides all the information directly to the user devices. In case of medical
sector all the health related data is provided to the user as well as doctors, for proper patient care.
The major issues of the IoT implementation is that the testing and updating mechanism is inefficient,
thus less secure IoT devices are more vulnerable to security threats. The data collected from IoT
devices are getting stored on cloud computing. Thus, in case of any minor issue in the cloud service
provider the data of the users are at stake. The cloud attacks causes not only individual to suffer but
also the major corporations to suffer as the crucial data of corporations can get lost. For the
communication processes the vulnerability is in the network system, if the network is not secure for
data transmission, then the data of the users might get into wrong hands by which it possess threat
to the users privacy (Stergiou, et al., 2018).
The issue is not only with proper and secure access to IoT but with the amount of data that it
generates. In only healthcare sector, it will be responsible for generating a large amount of data in
near future. The data collected can be managed by artificial intelligent techniques and machine
learning techniques. Although, there are proper techniques for data collection and analysis but the
problem resides in the amount of data collected from all the devices incorporating IoT
implementation. In the research the security vulnerabilities will be considered, various tools and
techniques will be implemented over time and the result will be analysed to look for the better
solution for the result. The embedded system using IoT as a technique of implementation is highly
sophisticated as well as simple at the same time. There are a lot of question in regard to the future
of IoT such as in what way mobile services will evolve with the advancement in edge computing,
mobile devices leveraging is an issue for better security of mobile devices.
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Research Questions
The research question for the research that are required to be explored are provided:
 What are the various security vulnerabilities of IoT devices?
 How the security access vulnerability affect the IoT devices?
 What are the key aspects needed to be considered for the IoT related research?
 What are the current solutions available for the IoT vulnerability issue?
 How the data and personal security of IoT device users, is getting affected?
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Literature Review
The research will be focussed on determining the aspects of IoT devices security vulnerabilities, for
that different aspects in which the IoT works is considered. There are various applications of IoT in
present times from wearable devices to the field of agriculture it is being used, thus it is required to
find solutions for the vulnerabilities of IoT based devices so that the system becomes more secure.
Wearable Devices
According to Haghi, Thurow, and Stoll, (2017), the wearable devices such as smart watch, fitness
tracker and head mounted displays are implemented with IoT technology, thus they are called smart
devices. The purpose of these devices varies in application like smart watches provides the users
with the information regarding e-mails and phone calls and social media messages and notification
are made available on the smart watch, with advancement the smart watches are also used to
provide the air condition and UV rays monitoring. The fitness trackers are another form of wearable
devices integrated with IoT, these are used to give information regarding the fitness of user such as
heart rate and burned calories, along with these it also counts the number of steps taken by user.
Another type of wearable device is head mounted display, these provide the information right to
users’ eyes. The head mounted displays are of two categories one is like Google glass that finds and
provide the information to the user as well as sharing of pictures and videos is done and the other
one is that which uses virtual reality techniques along with IoT for VR gaming (Dimitrov, 2016).
As per Arias, et al., (2015), the causes of security issues in IoT based wearable devices is that they
might have ecosystem interface which is not secure such as insecure web, mobile interface or
backend API. The encryption in the system is weak which makes it more vulnerable to the attack on
the devices for breaching to cause data theft. As the IoT in the wearable devices are directly in touch
with the users thus getting access to the device other than the user will provide the user related
information directly to the intruder, which is an issue of privacy security (Ometov, et al., 2016).
These wearable devices mostly provides the healthcare related information of the user thus if the
hacker has some malicious intentions than it can be proved to be fatal for the user. The devices
needs to be updated regularly as old mechanism are easier to hack into, for the lack of update
mechanism the IoT devices becomes highly vulnerable to easy access (Thierer, 2015).
As these devices transmits data over wireless communication, thus the network security needs to be
good, as if the communication path is vulnerable than the intruders can get the data of the users
while transmission. Also, the data transfer is an integral part of IoT devices hence it needs to be
properly secured. The wearable IoT devices are also connected to the smart devices thus in case the
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network security is compromised for the data transmission then the intruders will be able to get
access to the smart devices will overtake all the aspects of user privacy (Izmailova, Wagner, and
Perakslis, 2018).
Smart healthcare
In terms of Catarinucci, et al., (2015), in a smart healthcare setting the patient monitoring is done in
real time any information related to the patient in a smart home is directly accessible by the hospital
management. There are various advantages of this system such as cost of medical services are
reduced to low, all the essential patient data are available to the doctors at all time, thus they can do
an effective monitoring of the patients. The patient care in home environment is proved to be
beneficial for the patients as they tend to improve more in home healthcare setting (Varatharajan, et
al., 2018). But the major cause of issue is the vulnerabilities possess by the IoT systems, by IoT the
user data is always at risk. Thus, if a hacker gets access to the hospitals IoT device management then
they can get the information related to the operation of smart devices, thus they can make the
device provide false data for the patient which can make the patient care more difficult (Yang, et al.,
2016).
IoT in mobile devices
The IoT in mobile devices uses wide area networks for transmission of data. The operation such as
GPS navigation. Apart from that all the features such as wearables and healthcare are connected to
the mobile devices which provide all the information directly to the users mobile devices. Sensor
network are used for the IoT services, the data is collected via these sensors and is provided to the
users and in case of healthcare to the hospital management for better patient care (Santos, et al.,
2016). In the field of agriculture the internet of services are leveraged for collecting the farming
related information for better crop growth such as temperature, light, wetness of soil and humidity
all these information is directly provided to the users mobile devices so that they can understand the
requirement for better growth of crops for higher and increased productivity. As the mobile devices
are connected to sensors using internet of things the vulnerabilities exist in the system causing the
devices to leak data either over network or at the device centre.
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Methodology
One of the major applications of IoT devices are in smart homes, for example user with a smart
home setting has all the devices connected over IoT with all other devices at home. Once the user
reaches home, the connected devices in car and garage communicates with each other and garage
door opens, then the temperature is adjusted by thermostat automatically to a user preferred
temperature, after that the lighting is adjusted (Stojkoska and Trivodaliev, 2017). The wearable
device shows the heart rate and stress level of the day, which is a medical aspect. Now, the issue is
that the intruders or hackers can attack the loop hole and find vulnerability in the system, if the
devices in the smart home setting are not secured than the hackers can get into the house and cause
harm to user.
As per the surveys conducted in different cities in Australia it is found that most of the younger
people wanted to live in a smart house, so that their living standard increases and their comfort level
rises. Majority of the smart homes includes appliances such as home security alarm system, home
monitoring, home automation and health and wellness. As per the survey conducted by the Gartner
Inc. shows that majority of the people with smart home setting suffers from the remote settings,
with so many devices connected in the smart device, their conduction should be available at one
platform like a single mobile application for all the devices in a smart home.
The IoT devices integrated in a smart home setting has different advantages as well as
disadvantages. The first and foremost advantage of smart homes is the level of convenience it
provides to its users, after that energy efficiency is a major factor, tasks are automated that provides
time saving, along with these customization is available. While, the disadvantages are cost (it is
higher to implement), the devices are fully reliable on the internet thus, in case of lower connectivity
the devices stops functioning. The setup and configuration are a hectic and time consuming process
to implement. There are so many security protocols needs to be implemented with the devices
which makes the process more complex (Apthorpe, Reisman, and Feamster, 2017).
Implementation
The implementation process of the smart home includes different kinds of protocols along with
different kinds of software and hardware. The smart devices required to be connected over an IoT
network, for example cameras, LED lights and motion sensors. The major issue regarding the
implementation of devices in a smart home setting is that all the devices needs to be implemented
with a single technology if two different devices are implemented by two technologies than there
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will requirement of bridging devices that is a complex process to implement also the integration of
IoT based devices requires renovation.
The traditional technology for smart home setting implement simple applications such as remote
controlling of thermostat, doors, etc. but as per the new technology and protocols there are various
new features have been added to the smart homes such as smart lightning system, security systems
and alarming are some of the major changes new technologies have provided. Also the traditional
systems are outdated which are more vulnerable as per the security concern (Lin and Bergmann,
2016).
Proof
As far as the proof is concerned, it is very simple that the smart devices have made the life of its user
more simple and convenient. It is far better than the previous settings that were only able to provide
the security alarming system but now from thermostat setting to operating the lights and Air
conditioner can be done from distance using IoT connectivity. The major concern for the IoT based
smart home and the devices is that they are highly vulnerable to the access security, the hackers can
get into the system if the security protocols are weak.
Evaluation
The evaluation of the system is based on the acceptance model, the home control evaluation is done
on the basis monitoring system provided. For the evaluation process the surveys were conducted by
Gartner Inc. among people of different age groups in which it was found that young people with
known and working knowledge of internet were in favour of smart homes once they understood its
advantages. But apart from the ease of life and convenience it provides the elderly were not able to
accept it as it will be difficult for them to operate these devices. Although the medical sector is
taking use of IoT devices to a much greater extent.
As far as the security is concerned, the infrastructure plays a vital role in the security of the IoT
based services, hackers can easily hack the older infrastructure or not updated system as they
possess the higher stakes of loopholes for intruders to attack the system. The solution to these
problems is that the mechanism and infrastructure needs to be regularly updated (Al-Ali, et al.,
2017). For the more secure IoT environment all the layers of IoT ecosystem needs to be properly
managed and updated time to time for enhanced security. As the false data provided to the hospital
management of a remote patient can be proved to be fatal for the patient.
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Conclusion
The smart devices connected over IoT network provides a better condition of living and maintain the
health of the users. Although, it has various advantageous aspect but a major cause of concern for it
is that the security of the systems implemented is not up to a greater good. The vulnerability is in
the access security, as the attackers finds a way to understand the loop holes of the system. They
can harm the user by entering the smart home by getting over the smart home security system, as
the security of the smart home settings are very high but still they possess various issues that can be
leveraged by the attackers. In the present research all the security aspects needs to be exploited so
that the major issue can be found and needs to be resolved, so that the IoT systems can be used
with much less fear. Nowadays users wanted to use the IoT system in their houses but are sceptical
about the security concerns.
For the researchers currently working the respective domain needs to consider the security concern
as the major issue. The hoe automation technology is on a rise and due to its ability of providing the
ease of living and better standard of living a lot of users are leaning towards it but are majorly
affected due to the security concerns. The technologies such as Z-wave and ZigBee are used for the
connection of the devices and thus the advancement in the connectivity protocol will make the
system communication more secure so that the data transmission can be done without any issue
regarding the security of the user data. In the aspect of future work will be making the whole system
of IoT based smart homes and smart devices more security by the implementation of more secure
protocols.
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References
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encrypted iot traffic’, arXiv preprint arXiv:1705.06805.
Arias, O, Wurm, J, Hoang, K and Jin, Y, 2015, ‘Privacy and security in internet of things and wearable
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Catarinucci, L, De Donno, D, Mainetti, L, Palano, L, Patrono, L, Stefanizzi, ML and Tarricone, L, 2015,
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