The security market for the Internet of Things (IoT) will reach $37 billion by 2021, according to the analysts at MarketsandMarkets.com. Because there is growing demand for cyber security, there is a lot of money spent to ensure it.

At the start of 2017, experts predicted that gaping holes in IoT would lead to the destruction of critical infrastructure, the growth of competitive intelligence, and the theft of intellectual property. It was also predicted that an increase in DDoS attacks would paralyze the Dyn DNS system and, with it, many important web domains.

With that in mind, it’s worth looking at five major aspects of the lamentable state of IoT security, stemming from explosive growth, scale, vulnerability, capacity, and availability of devices.

Source: Analysing the five major aspects of poor Internet of Things security | IoT Tech News

From vending machines that can autonomously send in refill orders to standalone surveillance cameras, the IoT is showing dramatic growth, and some authorities expect that by 2025 there may be over 75 billion IoT devices in use worldwide. Unfortunately, this poses a great challenge for endpoint and network security monitoring practices, as the exponential growth of the IoT will also vastly increase the number of possible directions from which a network’s security can be compromised.

Source: Dealing with the endpoint security weaknesses of the Internet of Things | IoT Tech News

The mobile Internet of Things (IoT) encompasses much more than smartphones. It includes machine-to-machine (M2M) modules—such as wearables—autonomous cars and mobile-connected tablets. This vast worldwide network is growing at an unprecedented pace. The Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update, 2016–2021 reports that there will be 11.6 billion mobile-connected devices by 2021, including M2M modules, and nearly three-quarters of all devices connected to the mobile network will be “smart.”

As the number of connected things has grown, so has the determination of cybercriminals to exploit them. Businesses might not think about the cybersecurity settings of their photocopiers, for instance, yet 2016”s Mirai malware used hundreds of thousands of IoT devices to create a botnet that took down popular proxy server Dyn and, with it, nearly one third of websites globally.

Source: Addressing the Security Risks of the Mobile Internet of Things | Tech Zone360

One of the key messages from Verizon’s latest “State of the Market: Internet of Things” report is that with the estimated 8.4 billion connected devices (which represents a 31 percent increase on 2016), there is a lack of industry-wide standards for Internet of Things devices and this should be giving businesses major security concerns. The operative word here is “should”, because many businesses are simply unaware of the vulnerabilities.

The Internet of Things is not only important for businesses in terms of the number of connected devices; it also represents a significant proportion of the economy, being valued by Verizon at $2 trillion in terms of technology purchases that are or can be connected.

Source: Internet of Things grows, as does cycbersecurity risks | Digitl Journal

Are our laptops and smartphones the only devices connected to the large virtual space, the internet? Certainly, not! The internet, as we know today, connects a diverse range of devices that are built to make life more convenient.

The hyperconnected space has given birth to a new ecosystem which we call the Internet of Things. It is a digital realm that powers our smart watches, smart cars, smart home appliances and even a smart home itself.

Gartner, a leading research and advisory firm, has predicted that over 20 billion devices will be connected to the IoT ecosystem by 2020. In fact, a report by Business Insider forecasts that business spending on the technology will hit around $6 trillion by 2021.

Source: Role Of Blockchain In The Internet Of Things: SWOT Analysis | HuffPost UK

Buying into IoT comes with a wealth of benefits, but adopting heavy use of the internet of things means more than plugging in devices and waiting for the data to pour in; it means modifying network infrastructure to accommodate them.

This is not a trivial consideration. If the network doesn’t adequately support all aspects of IoT, a company may be unable to take advantage of all that data and will fail to realize the return on investment it was hoping for.

Source: 3 real-world examples of IoT rolled out in the enterprise | Network World

The Internet of Things (or IoT) sounds like one of those futuristic buzzwords that’s still just a little too far off to think much about. But the IoT — where once-unconnected things like watches, cars, healthcare equipment, etc. will be connected to the Internet — is already here, and it’s changing our health, how we build things, and how we get around, and creating billions of dollars in value across multiple sectors.

Source: 11 Internet of Things Stats That Will Blow You Away | The Motley Fool

Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is already revolutionizing domains such as manufacturing, automobiles and healthcare. But the real value of IIoT will be realized only when Machine Learning (ML) is applied to the sensor data. This article attempts to highlight how ML augments IIoT solutions by bringing intelligent insights.

Source: How Machine Learning Enhances The Value Of Industrial Internet of Things | Forbes

The Internet of Things (IoT) has been called the next Industrial Revolution, and it will have a profound effect on how marketers will need to understand, market and track consumers in the years ahead.

In fact, BI Intelligence, in a 2015 report, estimated that more than 34 billion devices will be connected to the internet globally by 2020, up from 10 billion in 2015. This includes a mix of standalone devices that can be monitored and/or controlled from a remote location, as well as remote-enabled devices (such as smartphones, connected/smart TVs, smart home and smart assistants like Amazon’s Echo).

Source: How the Internet of Things changes everything | Martech Today

“What GAO Found

The Internet of Things (IoT) is the set of Internet-capable devices, such as wearable fitness devices and smartphones, that interact with the physical environment and typically contain elements for sensing, communicating, processing, and actuating. Even as the IoT creates many benefits, it is important to acknowledge its emerging security implications. The Department of Defense (DOD) has identified numerous security risks with IoT devices and conducted some assessments that examined such security risks, such as infrastructure-related and intelligence assessments. Risks with IoT devices can generally be divided into risks with the devices themselves and risks with how they are used. For example, risks with the devices include limited encryption and a limited ability to patch or upgrade devices. Risks with how they are used—operational risks—include insider threats and unauthorized communication of information to third parties. DOD has developed IoT threat scenarios involving intelligence collection and the endangerment of senior DOD leadership—scenarios that incorporate IoT security risks (see figure). Although DOD has begun to examine security risks of IoT devices through its infrastructure-related and intelligence assessments, the department has not conducted required assessments related to the security of its operations.”

Source: U.S. GAO – Internet of Things: Enhanced Assessments and Guidance Are Needed to Address Security Risks in DOD | U.S. GAO