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ELIoT Pro White Paper Series Part 3: The Brain behind the IoT security

Today, we present the third part of our ELIoT Pro White Paper Series. In this one we examine the need to set rules to monitor the behaviour of an IoT device, track its performance and detect malfunctions.

Problems with IoT

IoT is rapidly becoming a transformative force, delivering the digital lifestyle to billions of people. Integrating an amazing array of smart devices with internet connectivity, the IoT market already includes more than 25 billion devices in use.

As consumers acquire and implement interconnected IoT devices, the number of malfunctions is growing, which has been an unresolved problem. If only 1 percent of devices suffered a malfunction annually, that would be 250 million failures this year alone. But, 1 percent is far below the actual failure rate; almost two-thirds of IoT-technology consumers already report having experienced device failures. On average, consumers experience 1.5 digital-performance problems on a daily basis. That’s an overpowering message to tech support organizations as customer experience will be negatively impacted unless this issue is addressed.

A distinct lack of monitoring and real-time network visibility is presenting hackers with real opportunities in our relatively young IoT eco-system. For example: if a smart garage door opener isn’t responding to a remote “close” command from your mobile phone while you’re at work, the fault could be a mechanical problem with the door mechanism. Or perhaps there’s an electrical problem in the motor. Or even a general electrical issue like a blown circuit breaker in the fuse box. Maybe the mobile phone app has a bug or has been infiltrated by a cyber virus. Maybe the signal to the opener is blocked because of radio frequency bandwidth overload or a transient environment condition. The cause could be in the garage door itself—maybe last night’s ice storm is preventing the door from freeing itself from the ground. What if the user looked at all of those conditions and none of them seem to fix the problem?  The situation can become quite complicated. Multiply this simple garage-door opener example by the tens of other connected devices in the home, and it’s easy to understand how confusing it can be to properly diagnose, let alone fix, a malfunction.

EP Cortex, an IoT immune system

A lack of monitoring and system awareness will have major consequences for the systems, owners, and anyone with a device connected to the hacked system or overtaken unit.

In response to this need, Cyberus Labs have developed an IoT-specific data analytics module known as EP Cortex. EP Cortex recognizes that an IoT system must be made aware if its component devices are being stressed or operating outside their pre-programmed parameters. Acting as a type of command centre, EP Cortex allows the system to alert its owners that a dangerous or otherwise anomalous condition has developed so that the system can respond and adjust.

Download our ELIoT Pro White Paper Series: Part 3. Want more info about ELIoT Pro and our solutions? Check out our resources.