The risks of cybersecurity are more advanced than ever before. Because of the rise in the Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), by 2020 each and every person will generate 1.7 megabytes of data per second. As new technology develops, cybercriminals adapt and discover new hacking techniques to apprehend sensitive data. AI and IoT have the potential to revolutionize the world, but what if these new technologies are weaponized by cybercriminals?
Unless hardware-based endpoint security solutions are powered by IoT and AI, users leave themselves exposed to cyberattacks. Anyone controlling one or more of these devices can easily access a huge number of networks and computers. Banks, governments, the healthcare sector, and private homes are the crucial risk fields, and cybercriminals are a lot aware that the more products which are interlinked, the more data there’s that can be compromised.
AI was developed to use machine learning (ML) to go beyond the capabilities of a human and discover patterns that humans can’t predict. It’s can evolve to recognize patterns that people have not even programmed these to process. Looking at data in different ways opens up a lot of choices but consequently, it opens the door to many risks because the risks of cybersecurity are not correctly thought of while developing IoT and AI.
What is Internet of Things (IoT)?
IoT stands for the Internet of Things, the technological innovation that allows for common devices to connect with each other seamlessly using the Internet. If it did not make sense for you, just consider the way in which the smart security cameras can open the door when its facial recognition detects your face getting close to the door.
What is Artificial Intelligence (AI)?
AI stands for artificial intelligence. This refers to all machine-based automated computing that can learn from data and could make choices and actions based on the data. AI devices have been used to automate tasks, and numerous manual labor jobs are at risk of being replaced by AI.
The Biggest Risk in evolving AI and IoT devices.
The application of IoT compatible devices can make customers expose their behavioral and personal details to the internet. Granted, data is generally encrypted and properly secured. But cheaper IoT products lower expenses by not following security requirements. Hence, data is compromised.
You will find 2 agents who might make use of IoT devices maliciously.
The first is Cybercriminals. The data they receive from you can be used to monitor your behavior and movement, possibly making use of it to plan out the criminal offense. They will find out just how long you are at home, what time you normally leave the home, and just how frequently you go on holiday. Security cameras may also be hacked by malicious people to spy on you.
The second is the Government. While it is not necessarily the case, and it is not often harmful, there are governments that have access to their constituent’s products. This is true in China, exactly where they use technology to observe the citizens and monitor their behavior.
Thankfully, super AI computers like Terminator and HAL are still a part of fiction movies but it is important to know the risk of artificial intelligence since it is a rapidly evolving technology.
Ever wondered why advertisements appear to always be right for you? AI is being used by companies to study the behavior and predict the offers that you may be interested in. Although ads may be harmless, the same AI is used in manipulating social media.
AI is used in IoT devices also. As IoT provides your behavioral information, AI learns the behavior and is used to predict your actions. AI is used to learn facial recognition. China’s interpersonal credit rating makes use of both IoT and AI expertise to reach its goals.
Finally, AI can be dangerous when it is taught wrong things. Machine learning usually learns by itself, without the assistance of humans, some initial data is fed into it. If it learns the wrong patterns, it’ll also make incorrect decisions. Sometimes these decisions might be life-threatening.
AI and IoT impacting various Sectors:
- Healthcare Industry
With the technologies in the healthcare industry, the risks are concentrated on a more basic level. Plenty of products are embedded-type products that could be found in or on the human body, like pacemakers or transfusion devices. Regardless of the intelligent healthcare technology that these products provide, they’re vulnerable to malware as a consequence of the low-level cybersecurity that’s installed on them. This means the data stored is susceptible to being read by a third party & being pulled from the devices. To avoid this, products have to have a degree of trust designed into them to ensure that people are able to avoid unauthorized access and intrusion, which eventually may end up in a life or death situation such as for instance, where a hacker may use a pacemaker & deactivate it or even deliberately induce it to malfunction.
- Automotive
Installing IoT products in vehicles has increased over recent years. Significantly, these have been linked with insurance providers that allow buyers to install devices that report data back and bring down insurance costs if driving within a particular set of parameters. Nevertheless, the cybersecurity risk of devices like these may have an impact at both the corporate level and a consumer, whether the unit is a hard-wired black box, a self-installed plugin which fits into the automobiles onboard diagnostics port (OBD II dongle) or a mobile app which collects data through the customer’s smartphone.
When a vehicle is connected to the internet, a connection between the vehicle and insurance providers is created, exposing vehicles to hackers. OBD-II dongles are able to provide remote access to vehicles which can cause severe personal harm, such as de-activating a car’s braking system. On a larger scope, the insurance provider’s servers which receive the data may also be a target. Potentially, hackers are able to get a chance to access the back end methods and launch remote attacks on whole vehicle fleets. Last but not least, if networks aren’t correctly segmented, hackers are able to get used to insurance provider’s networks which can breach a large number of personal data.
- Cybersecurity
As we begin 2020, there must be a major increase in security on IoT and AI devices from manufacturing, offering security all of the way from buying and beyond. If a single device doesn’t provide proper security to protect against cyberattacks, the entire network of that product is immediately exposed. Fixing these weaknesses is going to provide protection on a person, national and corporate scale.
- Smart-Homes
Smart homes are bringing more technology to things that a few decades before would’ve seemed absurd or impossible: fridges, lightbulbs, kettles, doorbells and a lot more! As with online banking, the charm is making ordinary life operate far more easily and enable people to focus their attention someplace else. The key element to smart home devices is the ability to predict an individual’s needs and their daily patterns, which they do by tracking the person’s interaction with the device and recording it. The captured data is communicated to a server, however, if the communication link is not safe then it gets to be a simple route for hackers to go into your home. Likewise, if the data stored in the server or database isn’t encrypted, it’s vulnerable to a breach.
The thought of your fridge being hacked appears almost amusing, the reality of the risk goes far beyond a hacker knowing exactly how many eggs you eat. Access to your data and your various other connected devices will provide a hacker away in your home which could lead to severe security issues. Many of these products are very little that embedding a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) isn’t a top priority for a vendor because of it not being cost-effective, though this particular decision eventually impacts the customer in the long run.
- Financial institutions
Mobile devices, payment cards, and information are all being made accessible to platforms (such as Google) and automated devices (like Amazon’s Alexa) that could be used to purchase your groceries in the era of smart homes. The appeal of having this data saved on these platforms and devices is the usefulness it takes to daily life; however, the simple fact is that a large number of people don’t understand what’s going on in their data. How much can we truly have faith in these devices? For companies, the primary target with these devices is usability and customer experience, and also as a result, it’s not clear exactly how much technology is being centered on securing these products to protect the people that are using them and their data.
Furthermore, mobile banking apps that are offered by financial institutions learn people’s patterns like where and when they purchase items. Additionally, they have the capability to detect patterns outside your regular weekly operations and make use of this to create data profiles of anyone. Banking apps usually have a lot more security than some other IoT and AI devices and also have integrated fraud alerts, but there’s very much info offered that there’s a motivation for third parties to devote effort and time to make an attempt to increase access and manipulate the data and by extension, financial institutions and banking networks.
