This article was 1st published on our sister Site, The Internet Of All Things
Symantec today announced it was securing more than one billion Internet of Things (IoT) devices, including televisions and cars. With IoT devices expected to number 25 billion by 2020, Symantec said it was leading the effort to protect consumers from hacks against their always-on, Internet connected devices.
“As IoT innovation and adoption continues to grow, so has the opportunity for new cyber security risks. This is the next frontier. In the automotive industry, hackers can literally steer the car and ‘hit the brakes’ from their keyboards,” said Shankar Somasundaram, Senior Director of Internet of Things Security, Symantec. “Symantec is partnering with manufacturers in the automotive, industrial control, and semiconductor industries, in addition to our work in healthcare and retail markets.”
As part of its broader Unified Security Strategy, Symantec said in a written statement that it was investing in and offering the industry’s most comprehensive IoT security solutions. This approach included authentication, device security, analytics and management to help prevent cars, medical devices, industrial control systems, and countless consumer electronics from becoming hacked, tracked and electronically hijacked as shown in recent news.
Symantec’s IoT technology portfolio included:
Device Security with Symantec’s Embedded Critical Systems Protection: Symantec’s newest offering protected IoT devices by locking down the software embedded in the device to protect against zero-day attacks and prevented compromise. Symantec had signed Wincor, the world’s leading providers of IT solutions and services to retail banks and the retail industry, along with other leading manufacturers in the industrial and automotive ecosystems.
IoT Roots of Trust and Device Certificates: Symantec was working with the world’s largest chip providers and cryptographic library partners, including Texas Instruments and wolfSSL, to embed security at the hardware level. These partnerships combined Symantec’s leading Certificate Authority with the partner’s embeddable engines to create new “Roots of Trust,” the cornerstones for devices to safely encrypt and authenticate information.
Code Signing Certificates and Secure App Services: To ensure that code running on IoT devices was authorised, Symantec providds code signing certificates and a Cloud based signing-as-a-service for a number of code formats relevant to IoT.
Symantec said its future plans to help enterprises address IoT security issues included the introduction of new technologies such as an IoT portal for managing all IoT security from a single interface, and security analytics for proactively detecting anomalies that might indicate stealthy attacks on IoT networks.
Symantec Corporation, founded in April 1982, is a Fortune 500 company, operating one of the largest global data-intelligence networks, and provided security, backup and availability solutions for where vital information was stored, accessed and shared.
Image Credit: Symantec
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