By: Krupa Srivatsan, Director of Product Marketing at Infoblox
In today’s digital economy, the number of devices connecting to the network is increasing exponentially. According to Gartner, 2020 saw 20.6 billion connected devices with smart cities and connected healthcare topping the list of types of IoT environments. The Internet of Things (IoT) comprises four aspects – the devices or things that are connecting to the Internet, the infrastructure needed to actually connect these devices, the data that flows from these devices to backend systems, and the analysis done on this data for making better business decisions. IoT devices are often found at the production or “operations edge” of a business, especially when it comes to industrial IoT like smart lighting, smart grid, smart factories, and the like. IoT deployments can be complex and several aspects like security and efficient management need to be taken into consideration for success.
What the recent WRECK vulnerabilities showed was that there is an increased risk of compromise when it comes to IoT. Earlier this week, it was discovered that more than 100 million connected IoT devices could be potentially at risk from nine newly disclosed DNS vulnerabilities, collectively dubbed as WRECK. The scale of exposure highlights the impact of vulnerabilities in DNS. DNS is the lifeblood of digital connectivity and without it, nothing can get online. It’s the foundation for all networks including IoT devices. For successful security of IoT environments, it is critical for organizations to look at an enterprise-grade DNS security solution to protect against DNS-based DDoS attacks, close DNS security gaps such as DNS-data exfiltration, and use built-in DNS security to disrupt malware activity and the ability of attackers to infiltrate an organization.
When it comes to security in IoT deployments, early detection and response are critical because of increased complexity and scale.
A robust DNS security solution can provide a layer of protection for IP enabled IoT devices and IoT gateways: