"The letter S in the IoT acronym stands for Security”

On February 2-3, Moscow hosted the National Forum for Information Security, Infoforum 2017. Infoforum is the key event and an important platform where government and business can discuss important issues of information security in Russia, methods of combating cybercrime, and ways of building information security systems.

On February 3, the thematic session Fourth Industrial Revolution and the Internet of Things: Information Security Issues took place as part of Infoforum. The participants discussed the information security challenges facing Russia in the context of the global development of the Internet of Things (IoT) and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), the prospects for network infrastructure development within the IoT, Big Data security and storage, and the future of the Russian market. Much attention was paid to the analytical solutions in the field of Internet of Things and the need to develop IoT standards.

Dmitry Belyavsky, a leading expert with the Technical Center of Internet, presented a report, IoT Security Issues: Problems and Solutions, which gave the audience an overview of security problems arising from the spread of the Internet of Things. According to the expert, a serious problem today is the lack of attention to security on the part of consumer product manufacturers and the lack of clear security recommendations. “According to experts, there were more than 250 standards for the IoT in 2016, of which only five addressed the protection of information. At the same time, the IETF, which is supposed to work out standards, is only negligibly involved in this process now,” he said, adding ironically that “the letter S in the acronym IoT stands for Security.” He drew particular attention to default access details and regular updates of consumer gadgets.

In conclusion, Dmitry Belyavsky described the work on the Internet of Things standards Russia has recently started.