IOT Security, Privacy, Safety and Ethics

Introduction

The internet of things (IOT) has become one of the most well-known technologies that has
revolutionized the world. This new technology, which was firstly introduced by Kevin Ashton,
the originator of MIT auto-identification center back in 1999. Ashton believed that this
technology has the potential to change the world like Internet did or even more than that. After
six years, in 2005, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) officially described the
term IOT. The International Telecommunication Union described the IOT as, the global
infrastructure for the information society enabling advance services by interconnecting things
based on, existing and evolving, interoperable and communication technologies.

Simply, Internet of things allows people and things to be connected anytime, anywhere,
anyplace by using a path/network and server.

IOT Essential Characteristics

Following are some Essential characteristics that IOT technology aims to provide:

 Intelligence
The algorithms and software connection with the hardware tends to make the system smarter
and more efficient in performing a task, by making intelligent decisions in various situations.

 Large Scale

There are billions of IOT devices in the surrounding and to control them and make them
functional we definitely need to have a large scale network to communicate with each other.
This huge network leads to difficulties in analysis and computation of data.
  Sensing through the Sensors

Sensors are the main part of IOT because it is the basic element that generates the data by
observing the changes in its surroundings. Sensors provides a better data then humans which is
understandable and moreover it can be processed an analyzed with a processing unit, such as
Arduinos, Raspberry Pi and computer etc.

 Complex System

As discussed, earlier IOT consists of billions of small devices across the globe and all these
devices are so much different then each other in terms of hardware and software capabilities
which makes the management process very hard when it comes to constraints in regards of
computation power, memory, energy and time.

 Dynamic Environment

In IOT environment, things have the ability to connect almost every network with out having to
determine the IOT network boundary which make the system dynamic in nature. These devices operate
in dynamically based on the conditions and situation.

 Massive Amount of Data

The huge network of IOT which is counted in billions, generates data from its surrounding constantly,
which means a huge amount of data is flowing in the system. This huge amount of data is therefore
called the Big Data.

 Heterogeneity

The IOT devices are in billion, and all of them have heterogenous features such as operation
systems, platforms, architecture, network protocols etc. This heterogenous system make things
harder when it comes to the management.
  Limited Energy

IOT device are constrain devices, which are light weighted with limited resources, which works
on minimal usage of energy.

 Connectivity

Internet is the source to transfer the data from one place to another, which means IOT devices
must have the ability to connect with various devices in order complete the chain to transfer
data and make use of it.

 Self-configuration

IOT devices has the ability to configure itself to perform certain operation without
the involvement of the user.

 Unique Identity

All the devices which are connected to the internet has a unique identity by which that device is
identified, that unique identifier is known as the IP address.

 Context awareness
Based on the data received from the sensors the devices are aware of kind of job
that is necessary to be done, this makes them context aware.

IOT Architecture
In October 2014, the IOT World Forum (IWF) architecture committee released a reference
model for IOT. Which works as a common framework to accelerate IOT deployments. IWF
describes a seven layered architecture, starting from the basic elements like sensors to cloud
and end user. There layer are as fallows:
  Physical layer:
It includes the physical devices like sensors and microcontrollers which sends and
receive information.
 Communication and connectivity layer:
In this all the devices are interconnected to each other such as switches, gateways,
router etc.
 Edge computing:
In this layer the data received is analyzed and converted into useful information for the
purpose of storage and higher processing.
 Data accumulation:
This layer deals with the storage of the data coming from different IOT devices. Different
type of data comes from edge computing is stored in this layer for higher processing.
 Data Abstraction:
The data abstraction layer arranges the data in a manner that it becomes easily
accessible on the applications in a concise way.
 Application:
This layer deals with the task that should be done on the base of the information
received.
 Collaboration and Processes:
This layer deals with the identification of the individuals which can use the data,
contribute in it or control it.

IOT Security
IOT is a constrain environment where the devices are lossy, small memory and low processing
capabilities. These devices are constantly connected to the internet and therefore it is always facing the
risk to be attacked by hackers. IOT security aims to protect these devices from such attacks and
manipulations. This is a big challenge as the environment is constrain.

Secondly, the environment is dynamics, which means that any poorly secured device can attach to the
system and can disturb the whole security and resilience of the system. None of the user would like to
connect to such a network with has so much issues regarding its security, therefore IOT devices need to
be protected through a proper security scheme.

IOT Ethics

Ethics simply deals with what is morally right or wrong. In IOT ethics defines a
boundary that should not be violated by the human activities towards others and
themselves as well.
IOT is changing the way of life of the people around with the expending
environment it also give rise to other moral dilemmas. Therefore a strong ethical
standard can motivates the manufacturers to design more smart and complex
algorithms to ensure the global connnectiveity.al connnectiveity.al connectivity.

Ethical design for IOT

Billions of IOT devices shares data and some times if this data is revealed, can leads to a big trouble for
the real owner. The IOT date can be the smart contracts, the bank transactions, security monitoring or
anything else in all of these the confidentiality and security is very important.

Some of the expected ethical features are as follows:

 Management and control of personal data

 The ability to apply rules and policies regardless of time and space
 Ability to support the dynamic contexts
 Ability to observe, recognize and support relationships that needs ethical features.
Ethical challenges in IOT

Following are the main ethical challenges faced in the IOT environment:

 Owner Identification
 Public and private borderline
 People’s life attacks (home, driving cars etc)

Case study: Smart Cities

Smart city is a city where everything works with the involvement of IOT. It optimizes the public services
such as street lighting, traffic, transport, parking, daily appointments, shopping and a lot more.

Security Threads in Smart cities

Followings are some threads in the smart cities related to the security and confidentiality:

 Data and Identity Theft:

Unprotected parking systems can provide data to the attackers. Like wise the data about the
person can be used to make fake transactions and smart contracts.
 MITM Attack
In this attack attacker adds a malicious node to the system where it steals the communication
between two already connected nodes.
 Device Hijacking
In this attack the attacker gains the control over the devices, without changing the functionality.
 Insecure Hardware
Sensors are the most insecure devise in IOT if they got interrupted by the attacker, can change
the whole functionality.
 Larger Attack Surface
In smart cities a series of devices are ordered to perform a functionality. If the devices are
hacked it means that big functionality is in danger now. This leads to the surface attacks which
makes the wholes system down.

 Software Bugs

Security for the smart Cities

  Mutual Authentication
 Security Monitoring and Analysis
 Data integrity and confidentiality

Conclusion

In IOT environment, sensor connects the data which is later on transferred through a network. The data
is converted into meaningful information on the base of which certain actions are taking place. This is a
constrain system in terms of the the memory, computational power etc. The information is sometimes
very important and can make troubles for the users if it got hacked or manipulated or misused.

The document has described some ethics and security measures for the environment that must be taken
under consideration while building an IOT environment.