The Issues surrounding the IoT
The Issues surrounding the IoT¶
We have seen so many benefits of using IoT technologies and how they improve so many different facets of modern life. But still, IoT technologies are not that commonly seen in many places. There are some very important reasons for this.
Firstly, the complexity of IoT systems limits how widespread they can become. These systems use many different sensors, hardware devices and connections that they require many different experts to develop, launch and maintain. Companies may not have the money, or maybe the required skilled workers to launch and maintain IoT systems.
The flexibility of IoT systems can also be called into question. To introduce new technologies into an existing IoT system, many different changes to the existing system need to be made. In many cases, different components of an IoT system may clash or not work well with each other. If changes can be made, these changes will cost time and money, invaluable resources in the business and real world.
One of the major reasons is that many IoT devices have security issues. A well-known cyber security attack, Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS), attempts to take down a system by overloading it with too many users. A common way hackers achieve this is by taking control of millions of smart devices which seemingly have little need for very sophisticated security measures (e.g. refrigerators, watches), and connecting these devices to the network they are attempting to crash.
If it is easy for certain smart devices to be controlled, it could also be easy for hackers to steal collected data from these devices! Before IoT devices can become more commonplace, advancements in the security of some uncommon IoT devices are needed.
IoT systems also record lots of sensitive data about the environment it is in, many times without the user knowing what data is being recorded. Maintaining an individual’s privacy is paramount to the ethical use of an IoT system. Therefore, a lot of trust is placed on those who are developing the IoT technologies.
Privacy issues lead to further issues of compliance. Many countries are now developing laws to regulate private data collection and distribution. In some places, the required legislation may not be in place to prevent unethical actions being done with data collected by IoT systems. With how complex IoT systems can be, regulations would need to be constantly updated.