This post originally appeared on Iron Bow Technologies' Techsource page.
Editor’s Note: In honor of National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM) we are focusing our content on tips and best practices in the area of cyber security. This week, we are emphasizing the importance of protecting critical infrastructure and properly securing all devices that are connected to the Internet. We asked our partners at Palo Alto Networks to provide their thoughts on the topic. Isabelle Dumont, Director of Financial Services and Healthcare Initiatives, weighs in with her thoughts below:
Many businesses are aggressively pursuing Internet of Things (IoT) initiatives with the goal of creating revenue-generating opportunities or turning today’s businesses into more profitable ones. From every corner of the economy you see connected devices disrupting the way we conduct business. In parallel, disturbing stories emerge on the lack of security around connected “things.” Here are a few in various sectors:
First, when discussing the security of network-connected devices, it is important to distinguish between single or multi-purpose devices. Single-purpose devices typically collect a well-defined set of data that is sent back to a specific cloud application for storage, analysis and intelligence gathering – connected medical equipment and devices are a great example. On the other hand, multi-purpose devices connect to multiple servers and services hosted in some form of cloud – the extreme case being smartphones and tablets running any number of apps downloaded from app stores and used alternatively for personal and professional purposes.
The above distinction brings us to recommendations on how to best approach security:
In addition, for devices used for both professional and personal use, such as today’s laptop, tablets or smartphones, we recommend that you deploy on the device a means to apply to the device the same security policies as those applied inside your enterprise. A gateway solution can enable this and start monitoring devices as they connect to your enterprise to prevent any malware intrusion.
If you are interested in learning more about implementing the above recommendations, here are some suggested resources to visit:
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