Exploring IoT Devices: Functionality, Security, and Challenges

The proliferation of IoT devices in modern homes has revolutionized convenience and efficiency but also introduced significant security vulnerabilities. This article delves into the various aspects of IoT security within the context of smart homes, highlighting key challenges such as unauthorized access, data breaches, and privacy invasion. It examines case studies where these issues have manifested and discusses how attackers exploit weaknesses in IoT ecosystems to gain control over devices or access sensitive information. The piece provides a comprehensive overview of common vulnerabilities inherent in smart home technologies, including insecure interfaces, inadequate encryption practices, and the lack of regular software updates. Furthermore, it underscores the importance of adopting robust security measures to mitigate these risks. Practical recommendations are offered, ranging from selecting devices with strong security features to implementing network segmentation and employing advanced authentication methods. The article concludes by emphasizing the critical role that both manufacturers and consumers play in enhancing IoT security, advocating for increased awareness and proactive management of connected home environments.

Running Head: INTERNET OF THINGS
Internet of Things
Student’s name
Name of the Institute

INTERNET OF THINGS
Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction.................................................................................................................................... 3
2.0 Diagram............................................................................................................................................ 4
3.0 Description of Devices................................................................................................................. 4
31. Amazon Echo.............................................................................................................................................. 4
3.2 Air purification and thermostat.......................................................................................................... 5
3.3 Water Sprinkler........................................................................................................................................ 5
3.4 IOT microwave.......................................................................................................................................... 5
3.5 Lighting System......................................................................................................................................... 5
3.6 Smart Toothbrushes................................................................................................................................ 6
3.7 IOT Watch.................................................................................................................................................... 6
3.8 Smart Lock System................................................................................................................................... 6
4.0 Issues................................................................................................................................................. 6
Solutions to the issues...................................................................................................................... 11
References............................................................................................................................................ 12
Appendix.............................................................................................................................................. 14

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1.0 Introduction
In this era of globalization technology has emerged as a core function. In simple terms,
Internet of Things can be defined as the interconnection via the Internet of computing devices
embedded in everyday objects, enabling them to send and receive data. IOT is like a package
where all the things at the home are connected with each other and communicate to make your
experiment more fulfilling. When Philips says, its lightings systems will control lights based on
the movies and TV channels, it is important that TV is also smart and integrated with Light
systems only then it will control the lights based on the movies. These televisions will even
allow you to receive your calls on mobile phones when you are not able to found your mobile
phone at home and it is ringing (Feki & Kawsar, 2013). However, this technology is not yet
mature and has lot of unanswered questions that is delaying the pace of its full fledge adoption.
The main benefit with the use of Internet of Things is efficiency. However, there are issues of
security, privacy, connectivity, etc. that should be resolved. The objective of this report is to
discuss the Internet of Things in my home dwelling. This report is based on the eight key devices
in my home setting. The diagrammatic representation of Internet of Things infrastructure in my
home setting can be shown as:

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2.0 Diagram
3.0 Description of Devices
Let’s discuss these devices one by one
31. Amazon Echo
Amazon Echo is the smart speaker that can understand voiced controlled signal. Not
only this, this is also capable of telling weather forecasts, reading audio books, give news, can
message or call anyone. It is integrated with Uber, Domino’s (Guarda & Leon, 2017). It can also
integrate with Fans, thermostats, locks, water sprinklers, Philips Hue, Samsung smart devices,
Google apps.

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3.2 Air purification and thermostat
I have a Honeywell thermostat that I used to keep the temperature controlled. It will also
detect the quality of air and purifies it from time to time. Also, areas that are not used or room
not occupied with any occupants will not be heated or cooled
3.3 Water Sprinkler
I used a Finolex water sprinkler. What more is that that product uses forecasts, humidity,
precipitations, sun exposure into accounts before watering the right amount of water and thus can
save the water and water bills. Also, this product integrates well with most of the Google, Nest
and Amazon products.
3.4 IOT microwave
I have a Samsung microwave that has all the common features and modes like induction,
convection, etc. One other feature is that one can just scan the QR code of the food item and put
in the microwave and microwave will take rest of the instructions itself by connecting to the
Internet. Another interesting feature is it can send you message as well as capable of sending
tweet when the product is ready to be served (Hassanalieragh & Page, 2015).
3.5 Lighting System
I have Philips smart light system that can be controlled with a mobile application. Apart
from it, based on the lights from natural sources or other sources not connected from internet,
these devices can adjust their intensity resulting in power saving. Also, these lights are very
smart and provide you with different color combinations experiences and you must input your
mood into the app.

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3.6 Smart Toothbrushes
There is technology even built in the toothbrushes and these smart tooth brushes are
capable of telling your performance about brushing on your mobile phone whether you did
enough and cover all the areas of your mouth or if there is any neglected area. These brushed are
also capable of doing a basic dental health check if any tooth is having plaque or notify in case of
any issues (Roman & Zhou, 2013). This timely reporting of problems can save from complete
dental treatments.
3.7 IOT Watch
I have Apple watch. It is one of the example of wearing technology using which you can make
calls, read your messages and many more. They are also fitness devices built in them that can
constantly monitor your blood oxygen levels, blood pressure, heart rate, temperature and provide
you a lot of information about your workout (Swan, 2012).
3.8 Smart Lock System
I have Lockitron smart lock system that can be managed over a mobile application.
4.0 Issues
The issues associated with each of the device can be discussed as:
Amazon Echo
Issues Comments
Usage There could be a usage issue when any update comes in. Amazon Echo can
have new software update that the user may not be aware of (Gubbi &

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Buyya, 2013).
Control There could be control issue for the users who do not have any specific
profile created for the use of the product.
Connectivity There could be connectivity issues only in the cases when Internet is not
good as availability of high speed Internet is a pre-requisite for device to
work (Ortiz & Hussein, 2014).
Security There could be security issue if the software of Amazon Echo is not up to
date
Privacy There could be privacy issue as the use of Amazon Echo needs access to
certain personal information.
Thermostat
Issues Comments
Usage There is not much of the usage issue as it is very easy to operate thermostat
Control There could be control issue if the thermostat is not able to work in an
automated manner.
Connectivity There could be connectivity issues only in the cases when Internet is not
good as availability of high speed Internet is a pre-requisite for device to
work (Diaz & Martin, 2016).
Security There could be security issue if the application for thermostat is not
updated (Singh & Tripathi, 2014).
Privacy There could be privacy issue only for the users who have developed their

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profile for the use of thermostat
Water Sprinkler
Issues Comments
Usage There could be a usage issue as I would often set the timer in the sprinkler.
There could be usage issue if automated timer is not working
Control There could be control issue for the users who do not have any specific
profile created for the use of the product (Miorandi & Sicari, 2012).
Connectivity There could be connectivity issues if Internet is not adequate. However, the
good thing with this device is that it needs less Internet bandwidth
Security There is not much of the data security issue as there is no need to store the
data in the database of sprinkler
Privacy There is not much of the data privacy issue as there is no need to store the
data in the database of sprinkler
Microwave
Issues Comments
Usage There is not much of the usage issue as the user interface does not change
Control There is not any serious control issue as such
Connectivity There are not much of connectivity issues as Microwave can be operated
manually without any Internet also.
Security There could be data security issue only for the users who have created the
profile

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Privacy There could be privacy issue only when the stored data is leaked
Lighting System
Issues Comments
Usage The smart lighting systems are probably easiest to use without any usage
issue.
Control It is relatively easy to control the smart light system
Connectivity The connection to light system requires less Internet bandwidth
Security There could be security issue if the mobile application is not updated
Privacy There could be privacy issue only when different family members have
different profiles to control the light system (Jia & Feng, 2012)
Smart Toothbrush
Issues Comments
Usage It is possibly the easiest of all the devices and does not have much of the
usage issues.
Control Not much of control issues either
Connectivity The good thing with this device is that it can be used manual also.
Security Not much of the security issue
Privacy Not much of the privacy issues

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Smart Watch
Issues Comments
Usage There could serious usage issues if the device is lost and gets in the hand fo
some hacker
Control Not much of control issues on smart watch (Stankovic, 2014). However, it
is important that user should be educated with all the functions.
Connectivity Yes, due to dependency on Internet
Security Yes because of mobile app vulnerability
Privacy Yes is user has created a profile
Lock System
Issues Comments
Usage There can be usage issue if the app is not updated and different users try to
access to lock system at the same time
Control There can be control issues if different users try to control the lock system
at the same time
Connectivity Yes, due to dependency on Internet (Borgia, 2014).
Security Yes because of mobile app vulnerability
Privacy Yes, if user has created a profile

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Solutions to the issues
With technology, there are certain solutions to the above problems. The first and the very
basic common solution to above problems is that the mobile application that governs these
devices should be updated. There could be mobile application on Android or iOS. It is
recommended that the application should be updated so that the chances of vulnerability is
minimized. The second basic solution is the use of password. It is suggested that users should
have strong passwords to protect the respective apps. In fact, one of the advancements in
technology is to go beyond the normal passwords and use the human touch points like finger
points for access control. The way IOT devices work is that they will constantly watch for
instructions from the other connected devices. Even if one wrong device used by the attacker in
the system has the potential of causing damage to all the other devices. Therefore, it is important
that the application and interface of all the mobile application should be protected separately.

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References
Borgia, E. (2014). The Internet of Things vision: Key features, applications and open
issues. Computer Communications, 54, 1-31.
Diaz, M., Martín, C., & Rubio, B. (2016). State-of-the-art, challenges, and open issues in the
integration of Internet of things and cloud computing. Journal of Network and Computer
Applications, 67, 99-117.
Feki, M. A., Kawsar, F., Boussard, M., & Trappeniers, L. (2013). The internet of things: the next
technological revolution. Computer, 46(2), 24-25.
Guarda, T., Leon, M., Augusto, M. F., Haz, L., de la Cruz, M., Orozco, W., & Alvarez, J. (2017,
June). Internet of Things challenges. In Information Systems and Technologies (CISTI), 2017
12th Iberian Conference on (pp. 1-4). IEEE.
Gubbi, J., Buyya, R., Marusic, S., & Palaniswami, M. (2013). Internet of Things (IoT): A vision,
architectural elements, and future directions. Future generation computer systems, 29(7), 1645-
1660.
Hassanalieragh, M., Page, A., Soyata, T., Sharma, G., Aktas, M., Mateos, G., ... & Andreescu, S.
(2015, June). Health monitoring and management using Internet-of-Things (IoT) sensing with
cloud-based processing: Opportunities and challenges. In Services Computing (SCC), 2015 IEEE
International Conference on (pp. 285-292). IEEE.

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Jia, X., Feng, Q., Fan, T., & Lei, Q. (2012, April). RFID technology and its applications in
Internet of Things (IoT). In Consumer Electronics, Communications and Networks (CECNet),
2012 2nd International Conference on (pp. 1282-1285). IEEE.
Miorandi, D., Sicari, S., De Pellegrini, F., & Chlamtac, I. (2012). Internet of things: Vision,
applications and research challenges. Ad Hoc Networks, 10(7), 1497-1516.
Ortiz, A. M., Hussein, D., Park, S., Han, S. N., & Crespi, N. (2014). The cluster between internet
of things and social networks: Review and research challenges. IEEE Internet of Things
Journal, 1(3), 206-215.
Roman, R., Zhou, J., & Lopez, J. (2013). On the features and challenges of security and privacy
in distributed internet of things. Computer Networks, 57(10), 2266-2279.
Singh, D., Tripathi, G., & Jara, A. J. (2014, March). A survey of Internet-of-Things: Future
vision, architecture, challenges and services. In Internet of things (WF-IoT), 2014 IEEE world
forum on (pp. 287-292). IEEE.
Stankovic, J. A. (2014). Research directions for the internet of things. IEEE Internet of Things
Journal, 1(1), 3-9.