The Impact of IoT on Information Warfare

Introduction

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is seen as a digital one, extending the previous information revolution. “It is characterized by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres” (Schwab, 2015). This is exhibited by the pervasive connectivity of many smart devices, known as the Internet of Things (IoT). These systems can generate more data than before, and provide remote access and control over basic daily tasks to more complex industrial processes. This may provide opportunities in an information warfare (IW) environment to enhance operations and capabilities or provide new avenues for attack. As IoT has the potential to complicate the already complex IW operational concept, it is important to investigate the implications thereof in order to begin the discussion of identifying new threats and mitigating these.

The IoT concept usually refers to network-capable ‘smart’ devices, and is sometimes called the Internet of Trouble (Kenny, 2017), ominously referring to the possible security issues. They usually comprise of sensors, and transmit the data over some form of network, and some are able to perform functions or control physical processes (Government Accountability Office, 2017). For an IoT architecture, there are commonly three layers: the sensors, the network layer, and the applications layer with which humans will interact (Kumar & Patel, 2014). While the IoT concept appears recent, in practice the forerunners have been part of everyday life for years and are often missed when IoT is discussed. Examples include office multi-function devices (printer, fax, and scanner) and some industrial systems that have had remote connections. The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) differ from IoT. Henning (2015) defines the IIoT as machines, input / output devices and controllers that manufacture the IoT devices such as smart TVs, toasters, and smart wearables. Consumers use IoT whereas engineers and manufactures use IIoT. Technologies behind IIoT have existed for many years, these include remote access, and cloud and are an evolution as the underlying data are now being accessed. The technologies behind IoT is a revolution as consumers are being exposed to it for the first time. Bowne (2015) list some differences:

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  IIoT is an evolution versus commercial IoT being a revolution;

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  IIoT can leverage off existing devices and standards versus IoT including new devices and requiring additional standards;

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  IIoT can often be mission critical versus IoT being at most important;

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  IIoT has more structured connectivity versus IoT’s ad-hoc connectivity.

A similar concept which expands IoT to the Internet of Everything, which also includes non-physical entities (Simmons, 2015). In addition to the advantages to industry (hence the term Fourth Industrial Revolution), IoT has advantages for city management and service delivery to citizens, known as “smart cities” (Clarke, 2013). Due to the pervasive connectedness of devices and the data they generate, IoT can be seen as closely connected with other technological trends, such as big data analysis, cloud computing, social media and mobile computing (Clarke, 2013). A challenge becomes when there are devices that are connected, which can be considered unnecessary, such as toasters, particularly if they have security vulnerabilities (Vaughn-Nichols, 2017). Due to the possible over-connectedness, there are opportunities to leverage or abuse IoT for IW purposes that is scalable to impact an individual to a city, or possibly wider.