A growing number of employees have various IoT devices in their homes — where they're also connecting to an enterprise network to do their work. And that means significant threats loom.

The security of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, especially those intended for consumer use, tends to fall on a spectrum between "serious concern" and "industry joke." Yet the fact is that a growing number of employees have various IoT devices in their homes — where they also could be connecting to an enterprise network to do their work. And that means significant threats loom, both to and through the IoT.

Some threats attack the unique nature of IoT devices. Others take aim at the application ecosystem surrounding them. Still others are the result of configuration errors that stem from  user inexperience or system limitation. In any case, each threat can lead to loss of privacy, loss of control, or recruitment of the devices into a network controlled by someone other than the owner.

Industrial IoT devices are subject to the same ills. When considered alongside the IoT systems owned by employees, they represent a second major threat surface.

So how do you protect against this dual front of security risks? Each vulnerability has a particular remediation, but there's one overarching them: Treat IoT devices and systems like the computers they are. When the same expectations and discipline are applied to the IoT as to commercial computing systems, vulnerabilities begin to be closed.

Have you built an IoT system for a residence? How did you secure the devices? Are you dealing with IoT systems at your employees' homes? How much responsibility for security do you take? Share your thoughts in the comments, below.

(Image: metamorworks)

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About the Author(s)

Curtis Franklin, Principal Analyst, Omdia

Curtis Franklin Jr. is Principal Analyst at Omdia, focusing on enterprise security management. Previously, he was senior editor of Dark Reading, editor of Light Reading's Security Now, and executive editor, technology, at InformationWeek, where he was also executive producer of InformationWeek's online radio and podcast episodes

Curtis has been writing about technologies and products in computing and networking since the early 1980s. He has been on staff and contributed to technology-industry publications including BYTE, ComputerWorld, CEO, Enterprise Efficiency, ChannelWeb, Network Computing, InfoWorld, PCWorld, Dark Reading, and ITWorld.com on subjects ranging from mobile enterprise computing to enterprise security and wireless networking.

Curtis is the author of thousands of articles, the co-author of five books, and has been a frequent speaker at computer and networking industry conferences across North America and Europe. His most recent books, Cloud Computing: Technologies and Strategies of the Ubiquitous Data Center, and Securing the Cloud: Security Strategies for the Ubiquitous Data Center, with co-author Brian Chee, are published by Taylor and Francis.

When he's not writing, Curtis is a painter, photographer, cook, and multi-instrumentalist musician. He is active in running, amateur radio (KG4GWA), the MakerFX maker space in Orlando, FL, and is a certified Florida Master Naturalist.

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