What security challenges are associated with IIoT?

The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is taking industrial companies by storm. As businesses embark on their digital transformation, IIoT ensures their physical assets don't get left behind.

In particular, IIoT connects industrial devices to wireless networks and gathers data from them as they go. As a result, businesses can better track and monitor their processes and, ultimately, make better business decisions.

IIoT delivers data of a good calibre: detailed and in real time. This provides businesses with useful information that can help them streamline processes and work more efficiently.

Demonstrably, IIoT has a lot to offer industrial companies to boost business growth and help them work smarter. Therefore, it's no surprise that IIoT is expected to grow exponentially in the coming years. However, before the excitement carries you away, it's important to understand that IIoT also comes with a number of security concerns.

You win some, you lose some

As brilliant as it is, by nature, IIoT is unsecured territory. Thus, as IIoT grows, so does the surface area for threats, which cyberattackers are all too ready to pounce on. Furthermore, industrial companies often work with obsolete or old equipment. Never intended for IIoT, these will have many security gaps in their connectivity.

As well as the above, there is a lack of standards or regulations for IoT in general. Until established, industrial businesses are shooting in the dark. However, establishing one is no easy feat; the sheer diversity of IoT devices and functions makes it near-enough impossible to blanket IIoT with one guideline.

Although it feels like industrial companies haven't many places to turn, there are cybersecurity vendors at hand to help these companies fully embrace IIoT. Here, we list some of our favourites.

Praetorian

Praetorian promises security assurance to help your company grow and scale with confidence. In fact, it's such a sure-fire, secure solution that it makes for a great competitive edge. In particular, Praetorian strengthens your IoT devices from chip to cloud and covers all bases. This includes embedded devices, firmware, web and mobile applications, and more.

Armis

The Armis device security platform is an always-on solution to detect threats. Furthermore, it discovers devices and tracks behaviour, keeping businesses on top of all activity in their arena. What's special about Armis is that it's 100% passive and agentless. As well as this, there is no scanning associated with it. This is important because scanning can crash IoT devices.

Tenable

Tenable works towards closing what they call 'the cyber exposure gap'. With this in mind, their platform enables you to identify and prioritise vulnerabilities. There are many perks to the Tenable solution, but what jumps out is just how future-proof it is. The Tenable experts have ensured that the platform meets the demands of today's digital environment and that it's digital-era ready.

Forescout

Business disruption is nothing short of a nightmare. Fortunately, Forescout's solution is at hand to ensure this doesn't happen. The platform inspects network traffic and activities without getting in the way of your operations. What's more, this solution zeros in on your blind spots, ensuring that nothing is left invisible (unlike many traditional security products).

October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, which you can read about here.