IoT Security is a Major Factor

Connecting devices and collecting data to improve efficiency and optimize processes has become table stakes in today's competitive landscape.

by Isabell Berry

Each data access point can increase the security risk and is a huge concern for your IT department. Rightly so, data infractions are not generally good for business. It is essential that organizations vet the security measures that vendors put into place before implementing any systems software or hardware into their premises. 

Evaluating and categorizing the risk of different data sources should always be an integral part of planning. Some obvious examples of high risk data include patient records in a healthcare facility or client info moving through financial institutions. Many organizations segment and isolate those types of information to instantly detect and avoid leaks as well as breaches, but many other types of data can offer vulnerabilities that can be exploited. One of the greatest threats to IoT security is the lack of encryption on regular transmissions. There is a huge amount of data that is being produced, skipping the encryption because of the nature and scope of that data could be a costly mistake. 

IoT data may be lower risk but these systems have the capacity to be a conduit to access other data if they are nor secured. These are 3 other measures that we have seen to ensure IoT implementations maintain security: 

1. Use a stand-alone network that doesn't integrate with other systems at your organization

2. Ensure that all devices are properly identified and catalogued so rogue devices cannot be added without authorization

3. Have access levels assigned to let users be defined as admin vs read only and implement password safety protocols 

Pulse's steam trap monitoring solution has incorporated these security measures and more, at every layer:

• The application layer is protected with an SSL encryption certificate plus user access, user access also can be configured for level and location

• The cloud layer has heavy 3rd party encryption and can only be accessed by Pulse Admin team

• The communication layer is a standalone network that has no access to other organization data. Properties that are supported in LoRaWAN security include mutual authentication, integrity protection and confidentiality. LoRaWAN is one of the few IoT networks implementing end-to-end encryption utilizing AES appkey identifiers.  

• The hardware layer transmits all data with strong encryption and certificates on both ends, employing a unique AES key for each block cipher.

Pulse takes security very seriously, the Pulse solution employs state-of-the-art security protocols. One more reason why Pulse is the trusted steam trap monitoring solution in so many industry-leading organizations throughout North America.   

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