EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
The Internet of Things (IoT) is growing at a staggering rate.
Gartner 2 forecasts that the number of connected things in
use globally will surge from 8.4 billion in 2017 to 20.4
billion by 2020, with total spending on endpoints and
services exceeding $2 trillion3. IoT unlocks tremendous
value for the individual, for organisations and for governments;
however, it also presents enormous security challenges.
The 2015 VTech data breach4, the Mirai botnet5 of 2016,
and the recent Silex malware attack6 are some of the many
incidents that have affected IoT in this early stage of its
evolution. The potential of IoT will only be fully realised if
cybersecurity and privacy are built in by design, and the
following risks7 are addressed and mitigated:
1. Consumer privacy and safety are undermined by the
vulnerability of individual devices, connectivity, and
back-ends; and
2. The wider economy and critical infrastructures face an
increasing threat of large-scale cyber-attacks launched
from massive numbers of insecure IoT devices.
These efforts shall lead to a global platform to share ideas
and experiences, shape technologies and architectures,
and drive standards and collaboration in creating a nextgeneration, inherently secure IoT ecosystem that upholds
security and privacy expectations.
We identify and formulate the below problem statement
based on our observations and the inputs of experts from
CSA and MEAC as well as the Netherlands National Cyber
Security Centre (NCSC)11.
Vulnerable IoT devices are deployed fast, globally and with
unknown lifespan, while a level playing field on common
standards and technical solutions for cybersecurity in IoT is
lacking for the industry. This creates safety, environmental
and social hazards that are not well understood and likely to
be unacceptable for society.
Using the problem statement as a starting point, this study
identifies and discusses 11 interdependent IoT security
challenges and presents findings and recommendations.
We believe that addressing these challenges will allow IoT
security to mature to a point where the IoT ecosystem can
develop and flourish in a manner that is acceptable for
society.
The International IoT Security Roundtables held in 2016,
2017 and 2018 8 by the Cyber Security Agency 9 (CSA) of
Singapore and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate
Policy (MEAC) of the Netherlands10, as well as this study of
the IoT security landscape, provide input for global efforts
towards creating a safe and secure cyberspace of things; a
global approach is required since IoT security is not limited
by national boundaries.
6
2
3
4
8
5
https://www.gartner.com/en
https://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3598917
https://www.vtech.com/en/press_release/2018/
faq-about-cyber-attack-on-vtech-learning-lodge/
https://www.theverge.com/2016/10/21/13362354/
dyn-dns-ddos-attack-cause-outage-status-explained
https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/us/security/news/
cybercrime-and-digital-threats/-silex-malware-bricks-iot-devices-with-weakpasswords
7 Secure by Design: Improving the cyber security of consumer Internet of
Things. Policy report UK Government, March 2018.
8 https://www.sicw.sg/iot
9 https://www.csa.gov.sg/
10 https://www.government.nl/ministries/
ministry-of-economic-affairs-and-climate-policy
11 https://english.ncsc.nl/
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