Why An All-In-One Platform is Necessary for Real IoT Risk Mitigation 

Securing Internet of Things (IoT) devices is a persistent challenge for many organizations, as these devices often introduce new cybersecurity risks that are difficult to detect and mitigate. Unlike traditional IT infrastructure, IoT ecosystems can quickly expand, are diverse, and often lack standardized security controls. 

Many tools promise to reduce risk and enhance the organization’s security posture, but they often function in silos and require teams to juggle multiple platforms. This fragmented approach to risk reduction can create blind spots and lead to inefficiencies, especially for resource-thin teams.

The Asimily platform is designed expressly with IoT risk mitigation in mind. We offer organizations the depth and breadth of capability needed to secure all devices on your network under one platform. With Asimily, security teams gain better insight into all assets connected to their systems. They can use this information to make proactive risk mitigation and management decisions that ensure uptime and create a stronger security posture. 

What Challenges Do Organizations Face with Device Risk?

The increasing adoption of connected devices has changed how organizations approach security in many ways. Connected devices can easily expand an organization’s attack surface, and without clear visibility into IoT risks, organizations often struggle to defend against emerging cyber threats. 

Lack of Visibility

One of the biggest challenges with IoT risk mitigation is device visibility. Data shows that Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) often underestimate the number of IoT devices within their networks, with many greatly underestimating the number of connected devices on their network. This discrepancy highlights the risk of shadow and unmanaged IoT devices.

Connected devices are easy to deploy, making it easy for departments to set up shadow IoT assets inadvertently. Shadow IoT and IT devices are connected to the network but not controlled or monitored by the organization’s security team. Additionally, smaller, highly mobile IoT devices can easily be misplaced, leading these devices to become unmanaged.

Traditional methods of inventorying and categorizing IT equipment are often insufficient for IoT devices. Passive scanners can fail to recognize IoT devices on the network, and many devices, especially in operational technology (OT) and industrial manufacturing environments, communicate using specialized protocols. 

Implementing an IoT security platform allows organizations to build comprehensive, high-quality device inventories, providing a clear view of all connected assets and how they interact within the network. The end result— no more shadow or unmanaged devices. 

An added benefit of increased device visibility is the ability to detect configuration drift – unexpected changes in a device’s settings, which may indicate compromise or a pending cyberattack. As part of the device inventory process, an IoT security platform will create a snapshot of each device’s configuration and immediately return the device to its last known good configuration in the event of anomalous activity. 

Work Prioritization Issues

A shortage of skilled cybersecurity professionals continues to impact all industries. As a result, many organizations operate with lean security teams that lack the dedicated expertise to manage IoT device risk, widening the security gap. A recent study found that 60% of cybersecurity professionals don’t believe their teams have the skills to secure their organization.

Many IoT devices run old, end-of-life software and operating systems that are no longer supported or regularly patched. As critical vulnerabilities continue to surge, teams may find themselves playing an endless game of vulnerability whack-a-mole wherein they address one risk only to have a new one emerge. Traditional security measures like network segmentation, while essential, are not always sufficient to mitigate risk in connected devices.

An advanced IoT security platform helps bridge this gap by providing organizations with an actionable, ranked list of remediation steps tailored to their specific IoT ecosystem. Other tools may bombard security teams with alerts of a new vulnerability in a connected device. However, an IoT security platform that takes a holistic approach to risk management will evaluate how likely the vulnerability is to be exploited and the risk profile of the connected device and make recommendations that help teams take immediate action for the most at-risk devices. As a result, resource-constrained teams can focus on the most urgent threats first.

Challenges Measuring Risk

Risk can be challenging to measure, even under the best circumstances, because every organization and every network is different. Contributing factors such as the types of devices, their configurations, and the overall network architecture all influence an organization’s risk profile and the device’s risk profile when operating on the network. 

Good security hygiene begins with understanding your risk profile. When organizations understand both their overarching risk profile and the device-level risks within their IoT ecosystem, they can take proactive steps to mitigate and secure both connected devices and the broader network. 

An IoT security platform does more than show an organization which devices are at risk—it generates a risk score, complete with theoretical and actionable recommendations, so teams can make informed decisions to reduce their overall risk. Instead of applying generic security measures that work well for traditional IT assets, organizations can make more granular, data-driven decisions—whether that means isolating high-risk devices, adjusting configurations, or implementing stricter access controls.

As an added benefit, risk scores help organizations secure their existing fleet of IoT devices and future purchases. IoT platforms that leverage risk scoring should also be able to complete pre-purchase assessments to help organizations make informed decisions about future purchases.

Incident Response is Disruptive

No organization wants to experience a cyberattack, but the unfortunate reality is security incidents can still happen, even with the best preventative measures. When an incident does occur, a swift and effective response is essential to minimize any potential disruptions to the business. Unfortunately for internal teams, incident response activities can often be highly disruptive. 

Security teams may need to take devices offline or quarantine them to conduct forensic investigations, analyze logs, and determine the root cause of the attack. Resource-constrained security teams may have to outsource some incident response capabilities to a third party. Incident response activities for IoT devices can be especially challenging as connected devices, especially low-power devices, often lack standard logging capabilities, making it hard to pinpoint the malicious actor’s initial entry into the network.

A purpose-built IoT security platform will automatically capture packets for forensic analysis of any device, which helps streamline the investigation and remediation process. 

Additionally, leveraging a security platform enables organizations to analyze network traffic to and from all connected devices to detect and alert on anomalous behavior in real time. Early detection of anomalous behavior aids teams in responding to an in-progress security incident, minimizing any business disruptions and reducing the time spent on incident response activities.

Third-party Risks Continue to Grow

As cyber risk continues to grow, many organizations are increasingly concerned about their relationships with third-party vendors. To some extent, all organizations leverage external vendors for services and products they cannot produce. Unfortunately, if the vendor’s network and security practices are lax, they can easily create risks for their partner organizations.

In late 2013, Target experienced a significant data breach that compromised the financial information of millions of customers. Malicious actors infiltrated Target’s network using stolen credentials from a vendor that provided HVAC services to Target. Once inside the network, they used malware to target the point of sale system and gain access to credit card data. 

Balancing risks from third parties is challenging, but an IoT security platform can help by putting guardrails in place to secure organizations. The best defense against dynamic, external risks is to implement targeted controls to monitor and mitigate device risk. An IoT security platform can help organizations implement strict access controls and continuous monitoring and provide threat intelligence feeds with insight into threat actor activity, including current vulnerability exploits and tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs). 

Asimily: The All-In-One Platform for IoT Risk Mitigation

IoT ecosystems will continue to expand as organizations incorporate more connected technologies into their network architecture—but that doesn’t mean they have to accept additional risks. IoT device risk can be easily managed with a purpose-built security platform that makes securing connected devices as easy as connecting them.

The right IoT security monitoring solution enables organizations to minimize risk within one platform. A unified IoT security approach allows organizations to streamline threat detection, reduce friction, and gain deeper insights into their IoT attack service. With the right IoT security platform, organizations can strengthen their defenses and navigate the complexities of securing connected devices with greater confidence.

Interested in learning more? Check out our platform overview.