Trend Micro Survey Confirms Disregard for Risk of an IoT Breach

Trend Micro Inc. released survey findings that show businesses are most concerned about losing customer trust in the event of an Internet of Things (IoT) related cyber attack, however they remain unprepared. The survey, which was issued to 1,150 IT and security decision makers across the globe, indicates major discrepancy between the investment in IoT systems and security to protect them.

As the growing number of connected devices opens businesses up to additional cyber threats, close to half (43 percent) of IT decision makers and security decision makers say that security is an afterthought when implementing IoT projects (peaking at 46 percent in Germany).

In addition, while nearly two-thirds (63 percent) agree that IoT-related cybersecurity threats have increased over the past 12 months (rising to 71 percent in the UK and the US), only about half (53 percent) think connected devices are a threat to their own organisation (75 percent in Japan).

Additionally, the results suggest there could be minimal testing taking place ahead of implementation to ensure new devices added to corporate environments are secured. The survey also showed businesses are experiencing an average of three attacks on connected devices in the last 12 months.

Thirty-eight percent of those that have already implemented, or plan to implement, an IoT solution enlist security decision-makers in the implementation process. This falls to one in three for smart factory implementation (32 percent), with a similar proportion enlisting the help of security teams for the roll out of smart utility (31 percent) and wearables (30 percent) projects. This suggests that a significant proportion of businesses globally could be unwittingly opening themselves up to a range of threats.

“IoT systems are the future for businesses and many new types of connected devices are being introduced to corporate networks,” said Kevin Simzer, COO, Trend Micro. “While this is beneficial for business operations, the embedded operating systems of IoT devices aren’t designed for easy patching, which creates a universal cyber risk problem. The investment in security measures should mirror the investment in system upgrades to best mitigate the risk of a breach that would have a major impact on both the bottom line and customer trust.”