The rise in the implementation of IoT devices is contributing to the rise in cyber attacks. That’s according to data from Sussex-based Beaming.
According to the business provider, attacks on remote devices increased three-fold during the last quarter of 2017, compared with the same period last year.
Beaming has found that 70% of attacks targeting connected devices such as building control systems and networked security cameras. Industry commentators have, for some time, been pointing out some of the flaws in IoT deployment : just last November, a survey from Cradlepoint demonstrated that companies weren’t taking IoT security weaknesses seriously.
Sonia Blizzard, managing director of Beaming, drew attention to the vulnerability of such systems. She said: "2017 was the worst year yet for cyber attacks on British businesses, whose IT security systems are under constant pressure from hackers and malicious computer scripts seeking to exploit any vulnerability.
" With most attacks targeting relatively simple devices connected to the Internet of Things it is possible many companies are already infected and don’t know about it. Keeping anti-virus software up-to-date is a good first step, but it isn’t enough to combat the growing threat," she said.
Good security practice
Blizzard stressed the importance of good security practice. " Businesses need to review their network perimeter regularly, monitor corporate systems for unusual activity and restrict access to personal email and file sharing applications in the workplace,” she added.
According to Beaming’s figures, other weaknesses in corporate systems were databases, where there’d been a six-fold increase in attacks in 2017, and DNS deployment.
