The coverage of the Internet of Things will be wider and bigger in 2017, reaching more businesses and making nations smarter, according to vendors interviewed by Networks Asia.
“IoT solutions will mature both in the areas of large scale platform deployment and creation of superior applications to address real-life problems,” said Ashish Pujari, General Manager and Vice President Supply Chain of SAP APJ. “2017 is when IoT driven integrated supply chains will become mainstream. Asset intensive businesses will automate their spare parts planning through extensive use of IoT and predictive applications.”
Jun Shi, Vice President, Sales Engineering and Chief Technology Officer, Juniper Networks, APAC, said that IoT will enable nations to become smarter in 2017.
“Cities will be intelligently connected, from traffic cameras to smart grids that operate as one complete system. To get us a step closer, the public and private sectors will need to come together in a more meaningful manner to develop the necessary policies, infrastructure and sharing of data to allow for smart roads with autonomous vehicles, or enhanced patient care facilitated by alliances between hospitals and utility companies.”
“This will also result in frenemy partnerships picking up steam. We’re already seeing signs of how major technology players are coming together to advance their work with the recent AI partnership formed between Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Amazon and IBM. In 2017, we’ll begin to see the formation of more organizations with the goal of bringing together not only technology companies, but also a wide variety of sectors to enable a truly connected future.”
Duncan Hewett, Senior Vice President and General Manager at VMware APJ, said that enterprise IoT is set for exponential growth and, thus, businesses will struggle to manage more devices running an even more diverse set of data and applications.
IoT introduces new revenue streams for cybercriminals
However, as IoT expands its reach, IT security will become a bigger challenge and demand for regulation will rise.
Sanjay Rohatgi, Senior Vice President for Asia Pacific and Japan at Symantec noted that IoT devices offer new revenue streams for cybercriminals.
“October’s Dyn attack disrupted some of the internet’s biggest websites including Singapore’s broadband service – demonstrating the vulnerability in many IoT devices,” said Rohatgi.
Rohatgi added that common IoT devices, including routers, modems and CCTV systems, are designed to be plugged in and forgotten after set-up, putting them at risk both at home and in offices.
“Nearly everything in an enterprise is now connected to the internet and security teams must consider vulnerabilities in all connected devices as endpoints into the network. “
IoT will put the cloud at risk
“We are predicting that in 2017, the projected 20 billion IoT devices will be utilized to attack cloud systems,” said Peerapong Jongvibool, VP, Southeast Asia & Hong Kong, Fortinet.
“One mode of expected attack is ransomware. Newer ransomware programs could become automated to target individuals en masse. Data and computer systems could be ransomed at even higher prices. There could also be a shift to target more sensitive data such as patient health records.
“We also expect greater calls for IoT regulation. As the frequency and severity of IoT attacks increase, governments will demand stronger accountability by manufacturers, to ensure that the devices they sell to consumers are secure.”