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Top1. Introduction
Wi-Fi and other communication technologies such as Bluetooth have existed for more than two decades and the volume of devices that utilise these technologies have exploded in recent years with a nearly 100% adoption rate. The term The Internet of Things (IoT) is commonly used to name a set of objects (or things) that are directly connected to the Internet via communication protocols such as Wi-Fi (802.11), Bluetooth and numerous other communication protocols. These networks consist of devices known as “Things” which can be constrained by hardware shortcomings that reduce their security effectiveness. Objects in the IoT are controlled via microcontrollers that are constrained in computational power, memory resources and power restrictions. These restrictions limit the devices from being able to utilise the same protocols that are used by higher powered computers like Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) or modern encryption standards which are too resource consuming to be used on these highly constrained devices. A recent study conducted by HP Fortify on Demand research concluded that 70% of Internet of Things devices on the market are vulnerable to attack (Miessler, 2014). The Internet of Things is a phenomenon that is growing rapidly and is expected to include 50 billion devices connected to the internet by the year 2020 according to industry experts such as Michael Dell founder of Dell Inc. (Barajas, 2020). With this growth and the security constraints imposed on these devices by hardware shortcomings and security misconfigurations, it is predicted by Gartner Research that 20% of the overall security budget of major corporations will be spent trying to secure these devices (Woods & van der Muelen, 2016). Applications for this technology include agriculture, manufacturing, power distribution, to smart homes, healthcare, and beyond. All these sensory devices are connected to larger infrastructure produce an extraordinary amount of data. This technology advance acknowledges the reality that human society is moving towards ‘smart’ and ‘smarter’ systems. The rapid advances in computer science, software engineering, systems engineering, networking, sensing, communication, and artificial intelligence are converging (Voas, 2016).
With the rise of IoT networks in recent times and their expected exponential growth in the next five to ten years a way to effectively secure them will be of paramount importance (Barajas, 2020). There are few home or business owners that fully understand and recognise how their network exists and interacts with its surroundings and the threats that arise with the constant change in the number and type of devices that connect and disconnect on their networks. This shows the need for a better way to protect these IoT networks which is why the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced the launch of a contest that aims to find solutions for securing the Internet of Things (IoT) devices deployed in consumers’ homes (Kovacs, 2017). The FTC said the tool can be a physical device installed on the user’s home network, an app, a cloud-based service, or a dashboard. The requirement is that the tool addresses vulnerabilities caused by outdated software, but it can also include other security features, such as ones designed to mitigate the risk of hardcoded or weak passwords.