How Many IoT Devices Are Connected to Your Network?

How Many IoT Devices Are Connected to Your Network?

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Only 30% of organizations are prepared for security risks associated with IoT (Internet of Things) devices, according to a new Tripwire survey of more than 220 information security professionals who attended Black Hat USA 2016.

Tripwire announcement said that only 34% of the respondents believe their organizations accurately track the number of IoT devices on their networks.

The number of connected devices is projected to increase to more than 50 billion by 2020 according to Cisco. Despite their popularity, IoT devices present significant and unique security risks to consumers and businesses. For example, Arbor Networks recently reported that distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks have grown both in size and frequency, due in part to the rising number of connected devices.

Tim Erlin, senior director at Tripwire said: “As an industry, we need to … ensure that IoT devices are securely configured, patched for vulnerabilities and being monitored consistently.”

Additional findings from the survey included:

  • 78% of the respondents are concerned about the weaponization of IoT devices in the use of DDoS attacks.
  • 47% of the respondents expect the number of IoT devices on their networks to increase by at least 30% in 2017.
  • Only 11% of the respondents consider DDoS attacks one of the top two security threats their organizations face.

Dwayne Melancon, Tripwire chief technology officer, said “many of the current crop of IoT devices were created with low cost as a priority over security, making them easy targets. The large number of easily compromised devices will require a new approach if we are to secure our critical networks. Organizations must respond with low-cost, automated and highly resilient methods to successfully manage the security risk of these devices at scale.”