Cybersecurity in the IoT era – the multi-layered imperative

11 01, 2019

With IoT increasing the number of network connected devices by orders of magnitude, the opportunities for hackers to breach systems are also multiplying. To protect people, assets and data in this challenging environment, a comprehensive, multi-layered approach to cybersecurity is needed.

In the past, most security and surveillance systems worked in a stand-alone way, meaning that they were not connected to other systems, or to the public internet. Now, things have changed, and IoT in particular makes it possible to automate surveillance alerts and share them with other systems and users across the organization. Systems are also frequently connected with cloud-based systems, with video data passing over the WAN and public internet to be stored off-site.

The rapid growth in the size and complexity of networks and IoT connected devices presents new opportunities – namely interaction between people and devices on a global scale. But at the same time, it also amplifies the risks of security breaches and other malicious attacks. And as we see all too often in the press, these kinds of breaches usually result financial losses, reduced customer confidence, and other negative outcomes.

Cybersecurity threats now span networks, applications, and device
The complexity of surveillance networks and applications, and the growing number of IoT devices being connected to networks, create multi-layered cybersecurity risks – all of which need to be addressed concurrently.

To cover all the bases, organizations must not only consider potential vulnerabilities in IoT sensors and devices. They should also consider the security of networks themselves, along with end-to-end data protection, application security and a host of other factors.

At the transport layer, or network layer, for example, criminals have the opportunity to exploit switches and ports to steal or tamper with data. At the application layer – as outlined in the OWASP top ten for application security – hackers are looking to take advantage of system and configuration vulnerabilities to access data and ‘take over’ operation of connected devices. And at the device layer, physical and cyber-attack methods are being used to steal data or interfere or disable device operations.

These multi-layered security threats mean that a single ‘point’ solution for cybersecurity can no longer be effective. Instead, all cybersecurity strategies should take a multi-layered approach that protects the network, applications, and devices adequately against potential attacks.

How Hikvision covers all the cybersecurity bases
To help you minimize the risk of a security breach, Hikvision has created a multi-layered approach that addresses a wide range of cybersecurity threats concurrently. We also maximize cybersecurity by following architectural and device best practices, and we are certified to FIPS and Common Criteria certification.

Our multi-layered approach is based on:

maximizing device security…
with tightly coupled hardware and software components that are robust and trustworthy. In several of our devices, we use high-performance security chips that govern a secure booting process, data encryption, and secure update processes. Many devices also use randomly generated encryption keys to minimize the risk of unauthorized access.

boosting application security…
with a secure device-boot-up process which determines which user processes and applications should be run. This ensures that all applications accessing devices and data are from known sources, and that they haven’t been hacked or otherwise tampered with. All executable codes also have to be signed with certificates that are recognized by Hikvision, which expands the ‘trust chain’ from the operating system to specific applications, and prevents unauthorized applications from running.

delivering network-layer security…
with secure protocols that ensure data is protected as it is streamed from devices. Additional Hikvision network security features include WAN security, port security, IP filtering and more – ensuring that stored and in-flight data is protected against common attack methods.

Find out more about boosting your cybersecurity with Hikvision
We hope this blog has given you a flavour of Hikvision’s cybersecurity innovations and how they can help you protect your people, assets and customers. For more information about how we can help you optimize cybersecurity in the IoT era, read our product security white paper or contact us.