Extreme Defender for IoT

The Internet of Things (IoT) is having a profound impact in every industry. According to survey data, 63% of IT organizations have witnessed a 50% increase in the number of endpoints that are connecting to the network1. By 2020, Gartner estimates that 20.4 billion connected things will be in use by organizations worldwide. Although IoT growth is really being driven by 3 main subsectors: Smart Cities (26%), Industrial IoT (24%) and Connected Health (20%) 2, there really isn’t a single vertical industry that isn’t experiencing growth in the number of end points that are connecting to the network.

The Challenge of Implementing IoT Security

Although the threat of attack is very real, there are many factors that make securing specific IoT devices a challenge. First, just the sheer number and diversity of endpoints, many of which might not be within IT's direct control. They might be owned by the facilitates management team, operational teams, or clinician staff within a hospital. Furthermore, many of these devices were not originally designed to be Internet -connected and lack embedded security.

Some of the Specific Security Challenges of Connected Devices Include:

• May contain older, non-supported operating systems such as Windows 95/98 and can no longer be patched.
• Lack of personal firewall, ant i-virus and encryption on many devices.
• In some industries (ie. healthcare) devices must go through an expensive, time-consuming recertification process to remain in compliance if a change is made to the device (security patch).