Internet of Things products are notorious for their cybersecurity vulnerabilities, and data protection protocol is struggling to keep pace with innovation demand. With the best will in the world, IoT networks cannot be secured without the tools for the job – yet Forrester has found half of tech security leaders do not have sufficient tools for enforcing policies.
Data privacy is undoubtedly top of the agenda for IT security professionals and recent research findings confirmed this, with 92% of respondents confirming they have security policies in place for managing IoT devices.
However, a shocking 47% of these global technology enterprise security decision makers said they have the requisite resources to ensure workforce adherence. This comes in spite of 49% of respondents saying they expect their company to increase Internet of Things security spending this year.
Yet companies clearly have their finger on the pulse when it comes to the nature of the IoT security beast; respondents cite privacy concerns, integration challenges and risk of migration or installation as the top three challenges connected to IoT security implementation.
Internet of Things applications implemented by firms thus far include intelligent customer services (43%), smart products (41%) and inventory/warehouse management (37%).
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“IoT technology enables businesses to optimize processes, enhance product offerings, and transform the customer experience,” authors Merritt Maxim et al. wrote. “While business leaders are excited about the business insights they will garner from connected devices, security and risk (S&R) pros struggle with disparate and sometimes immature security offerings that fail to properly secure deployments, leading to increased risk of data loss, physical damage, and revenue loss.”
