In a world dominated by connectivity challenges, time is a luxury. Witekio’s recent webinar, featuring tech experts from Avnet, isn’t just another discussion; it’s a roadmap for decision-makers like you, offering swift solutions to the pain points that often plague OEMs.
IoT Security Solutions – Trends and Best Practices
We delve straight into the experts’ insights on tackling connected solution intricacies in our webinar round-up below.
Uncover how sensor-driven applications, industrial IoT, and smart buildings are shaping the market.
We provide a compass for you to align your strategies with evolving customer demands. For even more insights, you can watch the webinar in full here. 👉
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IoT in North America at a glance
Connectivity is a huge industry with applications and use cases in almost every field. A recent survey showed that nearly a third of all embedded projects are IoT-related. Despite this wide variability, we can still identify a few key trends that everyone should be aware of.
Security and Regulations. This is an unavoidable topic. Not only is security important for your customers, but regulation is swiftly catching up with technology. For example, the IoT Cybersecurity Improvement Act prohibits the use of connected devices that are not compliant with NIST standards. Proper security hardening is a must in modern IoT development.
Edge Computing: Edge computing can be a great solution in situations that demand rapid responses. However, each project will have a different balance between functionalities that can be processed on the cloud or the edge. It is important to have both cloud and edge strategies that support these choices.
High bandwidth: Complex cloud devices demand high bandwidth. Fortunately, 95% of North America is already covered by low-band 5G, with mid-band catching up. This is a major contributor to the adoption and success of IoT.
As Trevor Cain, Senior Account Executive at Avnet, tells us: “More and more customers are really looking at their projects as connected solutions, simply because they’re trying to create different outcomes not only for themselves but for their end customers“
Security: Your Prime Concern
Security is non-negotiable in the connected world. In our webinar, we discussed various strategies to fortify your devices from device health monitoring to 3rd party cloud services.
No matter the direction you choose to take, encryption, authentication, and secure OTA updates are crucial.
It is also important to be mindful of the secure device continuum. Don’t worry, this isn’t some fringe theory in quantum physics but rather a way of classifying IoT devices and their security needs. The more complex/critical your device, the more stringent the security needs. Your security framework will be a balancing act between cost, complexity, and risk.
Authenticity is Everything!
Regardless of where your device lies on the continuum, IoT device authentication is a key part of your arsenal. Gabriel Ovalles, Seattle cloud and app team lead at Witekio, laid out three great options for device-makers.
One great method to secure device-to-cloud communication is using x509 certificates. You will need to ensure that the certificates are stored properly and can only be accessed by authorized individuals or services. A solid certificate rotation policy is also recommended.
Another option is to use a trusted platform module (TMP) or secure element. This hardware-based method lets you store device keys or certificates in the TPM, which can be provided by a secure element vendor and then placed on your board during the manufacturing process.
Lastly, you can also use symmetric keys. This simple and cost-effective solution is best for testing environments as they are less secure and often left open.
Long-term thinking = long-term success
Deploying an IoT device without long-term support is like going for a drive without a full tank; you know you’re going to run into trouble sooner or later.
Fresh vulnerabilities will appear over time, which will need to be identified and patched quickly and remotely using OTA updates.
You may also look to deploy new functionalities to help extend the lifetime of your device and provide greater value to your customers, without having to make changes to the hardware.
It can also occur that support for your chosen operating system dwindles over time or that your drivers become outdated.
Having a robust long-term maintenance program will not only give you peace of mind but help maximize the lifespan and value of your connected devices. Proactive monitoring, coupled with regular updates, not only keeps your devices secure but frees up your team to focus on their core goals.
Witekio – Your Partners in IoT Security
IoT security is complex and constantly evolving. Fortunately, you don’t have to do this alone.
Witekio’s IoT security solutions are built upon over 20 years of experience in embedded software design. As an Avnet company, we are part of a connected solution that helps OEMs develop the best IoT device, from hardware to software.
Our IoT Fast-Track service, combined with our secure-by-design approach, can get your connected device to market with more haste and less fuss. Whatever your IoT needs, Witekio is your end-to-end partner.
Get in touch today to accelerate your IoT projectâš¡