Milestone 3 - Adventure Game Outline: Module Development

Question 1

The wave of the Internet of Things has taken the world by storm, and a lot of these devices are now circulating everywhere, in our homes and also workplaces. IoT includes physical tools that can connect to the internet and communicate to the network without any human intervention (Ranger, 2020). They can be as simple as a child’s toy to sophisticated as an automated car. Common IoT devices that we own include electronic doorbells, fitness bands and smartwatches. The ability of these devices to connect to the internet has exposed them to various security breaches which have taken a toll on them. There has been a 60% increase in the number of violations that happen on these devices (Sumo Logic, 2020).

Unlike other devices that are connected to the internet such as laptops, IoT devices are made of minimal software, the security updates on this software are not put into consideration. With the rise of security breaches on these devices, the security of IoT has caught the attention of cybersecurity professionals who are working tirelessly to make sure that the software of these devices is well secured (Pahl, & Donini, 2018). IoT security refers to the understanding of different security threats and mitigating all the security risks present (Sumo Logic, 2019). There has been a lot of guidelines that have been set by various departments to make sure that the correct measures are taken to protect against ant security threats.

The first guideline is to make people aware that there is a threat to the security of IoT. This is called public awareness. Most people are still ignorant, and they do not think that at some point, they might be a victim of a data breach. As long as anyone owns an IoT device, they should be aware that the privacy of their data found in these devices is the priority. They should, therefore, be educated on the security risks and also how they can take part to stop such acts. A user of these devices should be taught how to detect some of the unusual activity taking place in their methods and how to prevent such in their position. This will empower the users to be in charge of the security of their IoT devices (Culbert, 2019).

The second guideline us to design a technical solution to security vulnerabilities. IoT devices have a lot of security vulnerabilities which malicious attackers can take advantage of and commit a breach in security. The manufacturers should come up with strategies which are aimed at securing and strengthening all the security vulnerabilities to make sure that they are not taken advantage of. IoT security analytics should be implemented which involve the collecting and analyzing of data from various sources and use them to identify and potential threats to the security of these devices (Culbert, 2019). Public Key Infrastructure is also another technical solution to security vulnerabilities of IoT. Public Key Infrastructure includes procedures and policies which are set to ensure that there is the creation of digital certificates which aid in the encryption of data (Pahl, &Donini, 2018).

This will make sure a third party cannot access the original information on these devices. Authentication of tools should also be put in place to make sure not just everyone can access and operate these devices. This step will keep out all the attackers from accessing any information contained in these devices. Thirdly, there should be an alignment of the lead and regulatory frameworks to secure IoT. When it comes to the Internet of Things regulations, the government is quite hard with how operations should be conducted. There are regulations which are set according to the privacy of these devices and the consent of the users, and as a manufacturer, all these conditions should be put into place when manufacturing and getting these devices to the end-users. The manufacturers should not just rush to get their devices to the market, and then the security of the end-user is left as an afterthought. All the tools should be embedded with the correct software and hardware securities.

The last step involves the creation of a workforce with skills in IoT security. With a well-experienced team in place, IoT security threats can be significantly minimized. This team will be able to detect various security vulnerabilities and work on them before any damages are done. All the security threats will also be dealt with accordingly, and so hackers will have a hard time accessing these devices hence securing the data of the users and preventing and damages from being done and also losing customers. Security of the Internet of things should always be taken as a severe issue to avoid any attacks being performed and leave companies devastated as well as the customers.

Question 2

Dear Customers,

RE: SECURITY BREACH ON MEDICAL ALERT BRACELETS

Last night at around 10 pm, we noticed that a lot of traffic was coming from various medical alert bracelets, and we perceived that something was not okay. With the help of our expert team, we were able to analyze and detect that there was a potential security breach that was about to take place. Our team was able to stop the activity of all the medical alert bracelets, and I think you have noticed that there are various operations that the bracelets are not able to process at this particular time.

The breach took place as we were trying to update our software and bring more options on the menu of these bracelets, but we are happy to notify you that there was no damage done because we were on time in detecting the potential security attack. We would, therefore, like to request you not to connect any of your medical alert bracelets to the internet. This is because by doing so, these devices could be exposed to the potential attack again. We also request you to remain patient as we are working tirelessly to deal with the breach. As a company, we have also decided to update software security to prevent such future events. We will get back to you as soon as we fully have the situation under control. Thank you for staying with us.

Yours sincerely,

Allan Jobs.

MedicalAlert Company.

References

Culbert D. (2019). Personal data breaches and securing IoT devices. Retrieved from https://betanews.com/2019/08/13/securing-iot-devices/

Pahl, M. O., & Donini, L. (2018, April). Securing IoT microservices with certificates. In NOMS 2018-2018 IEEE/IFIP Network Operations and Management Symposium (pp. 1-5). IEEE. Retrieved from https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/8406189