IoT: Benefits And Harms Of Technology That Will Change Our Lives

The greater the amount of data exchanged, the greater the possibility of compromising systems and privacy.  The Internet of Things is more and more rooted in our lives: think of the number of “intelligent objects” that surround us inside our homes, at work, in cities, in our daily life. In fact, in the 20 years since their birth, IoT technologies have multiplied and developed, increasingly adopted by companies. 

What Are The Objectives It Pursues?

The IT field for topics ranging from cloud and edge to blockchain, Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence up to Cyber Security, and the partner of Experis Academy in various training projects including the Cyber ​​Security Master and the forthcoming IoT Security 4.0 Master Lab. The main objectives of the IoT (Internet of Things) are aimed at improving the quality of life of people and offering benefits to consumers and businesses. Many, if not all, sectors and disciplines can benefit from advances in the IoT and the processing of data collected by different platforms.

In general, the IoT paradigm has among its applications:

1. Reduction of the consumption of energy resources;
2. Prevention of breakdowns, illnesses or other adverse events;
3. Removal of waste of various kinds;
4. Security enhancement;
5. Development in the automation of daily activities;
6. Quality of life improvements;
7. More extraordinary ability to collect and analyze data in real-time.

The spread of the IoT and the emergence of new application fields will draw significant advantages from the developments expected in the coming years on some enabling technologies. The progressive implementation of 5G networks will significantly increase transmission speed and a simultaneous reduction in latency times. These performances will make it possible to meet the requirements of critical applications and extend the field of use to mobile devices or devices distributed in more or less extensive areas and not easily reachable from the fixed or wired network (e.g. cultivated areas, large industrial plants).

They will also allow the creation of innovative services, in which the timeliness of processing the information received from the bright object is a primary enabling factor. Similarly, significant benefits could be reaped from applying Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) technologies, considering the amount of data generated by IoT devices, to extract valuable information for developing predictions and taking adaptive actions in rapid and continuous form.

In turn, the IoT constitutes an enabling technology for other innovative areas of Industry 4.0, wherein 2020 is represented, the main technological investment area with a 60% share of the overall market (for a turnover of approximately € 1.9 billion) and a growth rate of 40% year on year, transversally affecting the various processes (from the management of the product life cycle to the supply chain, etc.).

The greater the amount of data exchanged in IoT systems, the more numerous and critical the risks associated with a possible compromise of the systems themselves and the violation of their confidentiality and integrity, with potentially significant impacts both economically and on the rights and freedom of individuals. It is, therefore, necessary to consider all possible IoT risk scenarios, identify managerial and technological vulnerabilities potentially present in systems and adopt risk classification methodologies by applying the countermeasures required to “secure” this ecosystem. 

In particular, IoT systems can have very different purposes, configurations and dimensions and, consequently, the security issues to be addressed can also be very different. To effectively address these issues, it is helpful to understand what are the types of hardware and software components that, beyond the specificities, are found in all IoT systems and that we can summarize in four macro-categories:

1. Devices
2. Communication
3. Cloud
4. User interface

Therefore, it is essential to analyze each of these areas and the related business processes that use them to create a framework capable of protecting the entire chain of the IoT ecosystem and having the complete visibility of the trend of the whole infrastructure used to provide the proposed services. The need for personnel trained on these issues becomes fundamental for safeguarding company privacy. The Master in Cyber ​​Security and the Master Lab IoT Security 4.0 are born to teach IT security experts who can effectively prevent, recognize or intervene in cyber threats from individuals and companies.

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