When it comes to networking, safety and personalization are essential. One example of this is Charter Spectrum. The company offers those who opt for Spectrum deals not only the choice of personalization but also financial security as you only have to pay once for everything. However, what about technical security? Is your IoT safe? If you’re paying for the deal, how many people are using it? Knowing the answers to these questions are crucial.
7 Steps to Better Secure IoT
If you never thought of securing your IoT before and have no idea how you can do that then don’t worry! This article will discuss 7 steps that shed light on everything you can and should do to protect your information.
1. Risk Assessment
Whether it’s a business network or a domestic one, there are always risks associated with a security breach. Thus, to make everything more safe and secure, start with a thorough assessment. This assessment includes checking all the aspects of the network and identifying the strong and weak points. Afterward, this assessment and analysis set the ground for a proper response plan.
2. Identify Assets and Manage Them
Start by discovering the different parts involved in your network. These would include any devices or individuals who are a part of the chain. Interview everyone responsible for a particular aspect of the network. You may also identify assets using technical methods like active and passive network analysis (the former involved software while the latter includes network probes). Once you identify the different parts of your network, manage them accordingly. Define a complete scope for risk assessment. You can then determine appropriate processes and policies to eliminate potential risks.
3. Management of Identity and Access
Limiting and securing individual reach within the network is essential so that only selected personnel can access it. Mutual authentication is a much safer method compared to default usernames, IDs, and passwords. All the security credentials should be backed up in the hardware. Doing this will effectively limit the impersonation and compromise of the devices. Also, ensure the maintenance of an auditable and secure action log for both devices and users. It allows a proper understanding of all the actions that take place within the network. Any awkward movements will be easier to spot this way.
4. Management and Security of The Supply Chain
There are multiple people involved in the supply chain for businesses and organizations, including the customers, suppliers, and technology vendors. Security is essential at each step of the chain. The best way to do this would be to enable independent validation. Every device should support a write-protect switch so that the authority’s knowledge and confirmation are required for the firmware update.
5. Response to Incident
The incident response consists of two things: the responders and a plan. There should be a quality response to pre-planned and active respondents who are readily available in case of a security breach or failure. The priority steps in such a situation should be to:
- Limit the spread of the disruption or attack
- Prevent any irreversible damages
- Eliminate the risks as well as the intruder
6. IoT’s Own Network
There are some devices that connect through wireless networks. Therefore, it would be best if they had their own independent wireless networks, separate from the primary production network and allow only internet access. Indeed, it would demand creating a virtual LAN and an SSID (separate service set identifier). It would also require the ability to move all of that traffic through an efficient firewall.
7. Monitoring of Security
Once all of these steps are successfully done, the final thing to do is monitoring the security continuously and maintaining it. Security is dynamic, and it requires ongoing management. Thus, even if you’ve established a secure network, it should be looked after. Appoint active professionals to these tasks and ensure that everyone in the team is aware of their responsibilities. While it is best to limit the number of people involved in this crucial aspect of the network, you just have to ensure enough personnel for efficient maintenance.
Conclusion
Once your network is secure, both your home and your business are safe from intrusion. While many think the security of a home network is unnecessary. In reality, it’s quite the opposite. From non-consensual sharing of your internet to stealing your private information, a security breach can cause you many types of damages. I remember when my friend subscribed to his favorite Spectrum Wi-Fi plan, he didn’t set a WPA password to protect his internet as a result of which, his system was hacked. Hence, don’t be like him. And take proper steps to ensure the security of IoT.
