Patch Management is the Catalyst for Growth in the IoT Industry

I still recall discussing the Internet of Things (IoT) at a web conference in 2015. One of my colleagues was a pioneer in the field and made some brazen predictions about it. The other week, he admitted that even his optimistic forecasts fell short. The IoT is growing faster than anyone expected. According to Intel, over 200 billion devices will be connected to the IoT network by 2020.

The rapid growth of the IoT has created tremendous opportunities “ and frustrations. As more devices are connected to the network, the challenges become more evident. Fortunately, IoT developers are rapidly deploying new solutions, such as patch management software.

Patches Are Among the Biggest Challenges for IoT

Adaptability of IoT is limited by security and privacy concerns. According to a report produced by the Online Trust Alliance for the U.S. Department of Commerce, 47% of consumers rate these two issues as the biggest reasons they are reluctant to embrace the IoT.

The looming concern is the difficulty IoT developers, and device manufacturers face addressing these issues. IoT devices are notoriously difficult to patch. The problem is that the devices that are part of the IoT are not typically managed with sophisticated AI algorithms. The problems stem from issues with the firmware itself. Can you really develop new patches to fix issues with a thermostat, watch or smart lightbulb?

They needed to look into new patch management tools to address them. They began developing new patch management software applications, which seem to be making a lot of headway with them.

Patch Management Software Could Be the Key to These Concerns

The government has started developing new solutions for patching limitations of IoT devices. Last year, the Federal Trade Commission offered a $25,000 prize to developers that came up with an automated patching solution for problems with the IOT. The pressure to introduce an automated patching system was heightened after a botnet took control of over 100,000 devices to coordinate a DDOS attack that left millions of people disconnected from the Internet.

Ian Kayne, the Cybersecurity Practice Lead at Mason Advisor, wrote a post for Info Security Magazine that promptly pointed out that patch management software would help ease the biggest security and privacy concerns that the IoT addressed. Kayne pointed out that the risks were more serious than ever:

The risks are significantly different from those we are traditionally used to. In the home, excluding these vulnerable, smart devices, the worst malware scenario is perhaps losing documents to ransomware. But imagine if an attacker discovered a flaw in smart thermostat software that allowed the overload of a heating circuit? In theory, they could burn your house down.

Until a universal solution is introduced, it is up to individual manufacturers to release patches to their security and privacy concerns. However, a further reaching solution that can address common issues across all known devices will be much more practical.

For the time being, there are still ways that software patches can be used to mitigate the security risks embedded in firmware. Cloud Management Suite recently talked about the solutions that patch management software and other issues can address:

• They can identify when third-parties try to ping your devices. This is important because they often try to identify all new devices in a network and cross-reference with known vulnerabilities.
• They can conduct ping sweeps to discover new IoT devices that are part of the network. Since every IoT device can be exploited to cause real-world problems that are far more serious than the issues caused by traditional malware, identifying connected devices and resolving their vulnerabilities is more important than ever.
• Identifying known vulnerabilities in the patch management software of the manufacturer’s release.

There are a lot of risks that are inherent to the IoT. The good news is that Intel. Cloud Management Suite and other experts are taking the measures to guard against them.

Patch Management Software is Going to Drive Growth in the IoT Industry

Many consumers are still reluctant to take part in the IoT, largely because they are concerned about the security challenges it creates. The good news is that manufacturers and IoT programmers are rolling out new solutions that will help address these concerns in the months and years to come.