IoT Security Laxity Widespread Among Corporate I Departments, Survey Finds

Despite the bigger risks of hacks posed by IoT deployments, more than seven of 10 corporate IT departments spend less than 20 percent of their time “securing the corporate network and data assets,” a Strategy Analytics survey found. The research firm canvassed 600 firms worldwide and found that 56 percent of respondents acknowledged their firms had experienced an IoT breach in the previous 12 months, and 39 percent said their networks didn't suffer any security breaches, it said. "The survey results are a huge wake-up call,” Strategy Analytics said. “IoT environments exponentially increase the size of the attack vector since companies have so many more devices, end points and applications to secure," it said. "IoT deployments can potentially be very risky business.” Other survey findings: (1) 44 percent of corporations that got hacked were unable to determine the source or the type of security attack or the duration of the breach, “which is alarming," Strategy Analytics said. (2) Only 7 percent of firms’ IT departments spend more than half their time on security. (3) 56 percent of respondents cited “end user carelessness” as the top security threats to their IoT networks, followed by 42 percent who cited “malware” as the biggest IoT security threat.