The Impact of IoT Technology on Users’ Lifestyles
Discuss About The IEEE Transactions On Industrial Informatics.
Xu, Da Xu, Cai, Xie, Hu & Bu, (2014), has stated that IoT is the technology that will completely alter the lifestyle of the users from traditional approach to a simpler and advanced lifestyle. The core functionality off the subject is based on the internet and real-time data which enables the users to control equipment or appliances that are connected within the IoT from even geographical distant locations. The network also shares information among the devices to make them smart to automate the basic operations. The IoT are proving to be significant in almost all sectors from industries, education, healthcare, homes or any other depending on the type of design. However, the technology is posing prominent challenges to the users and the most significant of them is the security & privacy concerns. However, to understand the security & privacy threats offered by the considered technology, it is of great significance to understand the technology which has been done in the following paragraph.
The technology can only be understood if its insight is earned and to do so, it is necessary to understand the technologies to integrate together to form the IoT system. The core technologies involved are sensors & devices, connectivity, (DP)data processing and UI (user interface). They have been discussed as follows:
Sensors & devices: The purpose of the sensors in IoT is to collect real-time data and send it to the servers. It can be as simple as measuring the temperature to measuring humidity and other complex data.
Connectivity: It includes the communication channel through which the sensors sends the data or the user inputs the response, it can be internet, infrared (for short range) Bluetooth connected IoT or cloud.
Data processing: The data collected from the sensors and moved are moved here to process them and take the necessary action. The processing is done by means of some software.
User Interface: Post-processing of the data a notification is sent to the user depending upon which they can send the input to the server and change the status of the equipment in consideration according to the need.
The discussion of the factors involved in the process have made the working of the IoT clear. In concise form, the working of the IoT can be stated as “Sensors collect the data which using the communication channel is sent to the server where it is processed and a notification is sent to the user who in response changes the status of the equipment in consideration.”.
Core Functionalities of IoT: Sensors and Devices, Connectivity, Data Processing, and User Interface
After analyzing the working of the IoT, it is determined that the biggest challenge posed by the subject is due to the communication channel. The data that the sensors transmit through the communication channel are not encrypted and hence are vulnerable to cyber-attacks. These cyber-attacks are threat to both the security and privacy of the user and the associated systems. In case, if one of the IoT connected equipment is overheating and the signal sent by the sensor are manipulated or blocked by the cyber-malefactors, it may result in some major catastrophic situation. The equipment may overheat and explode posing a significant threat to everything and everyone around it. Other such scenarios can also be cited by the security threat of the IoT and they are not just limited to the physical damage, the damage to the user’s data could also be taken in accounting. The above-mentioned statement has been quoted because the IoT network has all the gadgets and devices used by the users connected to it. In case, any trespassers enter the server of the users than they can see, manipulate or destroy the personal data of the users posing a significant threat to the user’s privacy. So, security & privacy is a major concern for the IoT which needs to be addressed as quickly as possible to leverage the full potentiality of the subject and hence is the research problem of the discussed paper.
The example cited in the research problem is just a minor example of the significant threat posed by the IoT. The government organizations are also adopting the IoT and if any unwanted sources get through it the results can be catastrophic. Additionally, the discussed technology was devised to assist the users to earn an easy, comfortable and simplified use of the system but if it cannot offer security & privacy which will cite different difficulties to users then the purpose for devising the subject is a failure. Hence, it can be stated that to cite witness to its usefulness, IoT must offer security & privacy to its users. Additionally, the research problem of the paper is a subject which has been raised many times and many potential solutions have been identified however, no appropriate solution has been identified. Hence, it is mandatory to identify, the remedy for the discussed challenge making the research work justified.
The research justification quoted that multiple research work has been assessed on the discussed topic and the considered section have reviewed some of the literary work and summarized the finding in the deemed section. The findings have been categorized and are discussed as follows:
Threats to Security and Privacy Posed by IoT
Relevant Technologies: Multiple technologies integrate together to formulate the IoT network. The core technologies in a general sense have been discussed in the overview, however, proper attention to the technologies that defines and drives the network have not been covered and they have been reviewed in the discussed section. The technologies identified from reviewing the literary work of past and present that defines and drives the IoT as discussed as follows:
RFID: RFID abbreviation for Radio Frequency Identification System, is an automated technique that enables the system to identify, record (metadata) and control specific equipment by using radio signals. The discussed technology is responsible for identifying and changing the status of a specific system that has been tagged in the IoT system and is attached to the network.
WSN: WSN abbreviated for wireless sensor network plays the role of sensing the remote signals for the discussed network. It is a low-powered miniature device that has enhances the sensing capability of the sensors providing accuracy to the network. The core advantage that is offered by adopting the WSN in the IoT network enhancement of the data collection processes, data analysing, and disseminating of the data that had been collected through different aspects of the surrounding. The discussed technology has its own components that assists the WSN to achieve its objective. The first of them is the hardware that is made up of transmitters, receivers, sensors, processing unit and the power supply to keep its operating. The processing unit is equipped to convert the analogous signal to the digital signal. Jia, Feng, Fan & Lei, (2012), has also discussed about the communication stack which maintains the longevity and scalability by designing adequate MAC layer, topology plans and routing of the system. WSN, as stated above ensures that the collected data are appropriate and for the deemed objective it adopts the data aggregation method which enables the self-healing of the nodes and links the actuator to the system ensuring its safety.
Other technologies are also associated with the objective achievement of the IoT. The technologies like communication channel, sensors, data storage and analytic which have been discussed in the overview of the IoT.
Challenges associated with IoT: The objective of the paper is to evaluate the security & privacy challenge offered by the IoT. However, the above discussed challenges are not the only challenge offered by the smart architecture, other significant challenges are also associated with it and on reviewing the literary work some of them had been identified and they are listed as follows:
Challenges Involved in Adoption of IoT Technology
Security & Privacy: It has been stated above that the discussed challenge is most prominent in the IoT. The smart architecture has a large of number of devices connected within it and they are homogeneous in nature which makes they even more vulnerable to attacks from cyber-malefactors. The reason for stating that homogeneity and large number of connected device makes it vulnerable to threats lays basis over the fact that if the cyber criminals enter even in a single system then they can gain access of the all the systems due to its homogeneous nature. Privacy is also a prominent threat for the users connected to the IoT and it is caused to the integration of the data with system’s environment. The impact of the discussed threat has been discussed in the sections above.
Adoption: IoT is one of the most disruptive technology and needs an infrastructure that can leverage it. Most of the countries around the globe are not ready to adopt the technology due to the demand of highly structured infrastructure by the subject. The developing or under-developed countries lack high-connectivity or even the tools that would maintain the sustainability of the technology. In case, the technology is adopted with improper structure, the threats of security & privacy will be comparatively higher and can result in some severe results.
Standards: The challenges discussed above are related to security & privacy and adoption of the technology which made it evident that the developing and under-developed countries are not ready for the IoT and hence, they lack proper standard for the same. The discussed challenge has its own importance because the adoption of IoT without proper standards would lead to misuse of the technology and other consequential results. The reviews also revealed that it is not advisable for the non-developed countries to adopt the standards from developed countries because of the difference in their culture and environment. Additionally, the legal obligations will also play a significant challenge for the technology because flow of data cross borders would pose a significant threat to the country and its citizens. Hence, it can be stated that lack of standard also has its prominence in challenging the IoT.
Gaps and future directions: It is evident from the literary work that the security & privacy concerns of smart architecture has been assessed by multiple scholars in the past and are pursuing it in the present day as well. They have evaluated the discussed network from different perspective and contacts to omit the challenge and they have succeeded to an extent. However, they have not determined appropriate solution for the discussed situation which can be considered as a major gap. The reason that the success is still out of grasp for the IoT researchers is because the notorious means are developing themselves with the technology. Hence, the most appropriate step would be to integrate the IoT with self-learning artificial intelligence (AI). The smart architecture is smart but are still dependent on its developer for its upgradation and security. The integration of the AI will assist the smart architecture to develop themselves with time and will even ensure that they are safe. The proposed direction for future work on the security & privacy is feasible which is evident from the recent case of Google’s AI. Google’s AutoMl created another AI NASNet also known by the name ‘child’ bot that has outperformed all the human-made AI’s (Sulleyman, 2017). Machine-learning can also be implemented in the smart architecture to enhance their capabilities and ensure that they maintain the security themselves along with the user’s data and systems. Hence, it is a direction where the researchers and scholars can proceed to make the IoT secure. The scope is infinite; they will have the opportunity to identify the challenges associated in the proposed measure. Additionally, other things like the benefits, the requirements and other necessary factors can also be identified giving enormous opportunity.
Another gap that has been identified from reviewing the literary work is the lack of researches on the physical security for the local data centre based IoT network. Disaster or other physical attacks like robbery and others can disrupt the functioning of the network. It will have more prominent effect on the organisations because loss of organisational data will affect the sustainability of the organisation. Hence, it is an area that have ample of scope for research work. They can discuss the backup & recovery of data along with potential measures that will enable the functionality of the IoT post attack also. The physical security measures can also be discussed. Hence, it can be stated that though significant amount of researches has been conducted on the IoT/Smart Architecture still there is large gap that needs to be fulfilled to leverage the technology at its full capacity.
The design for data collection for the proposed research will be the mixed data collection methodology which will take account of both the primary and secondary data collection method. The secondary data will be collected to earn an insight into the subject and formulate the questionnaire that will be distributed among the stakeholders of IoT. The philosophy adopted by the proposed work will be positivism which will consider both the scientific and abstract data while the approach will exploratory in which the current scenario will be evaluated to reach on a summarized finding. The secondary data has will be sampled with critical thinking while the primary quantitative data will be sampled with the statistical tool MS Excel. If any other tool or technique is adopted, it will be mentioned in the final paper.
Conclusion
The discussed report can be emphasized to state that IoT is one of the most disruptive technologies of today. However, the technology is offering significant challenges to the users and the most prominent of them is the security & privacy threat. The review of the scholarly article reveals that several methods are present that are capable off mitigating the threat. However, none of them can be called as adequate because the cyber criminals are upgrading themselves with the changing technology. Which is one of the identified gap in the literature. Apart from the identified future scope that is research on adequate solution for the security & privacy concern of the IoT another gap was identified that is relevant to the gap in literature regarding the physical security of the data centers of non-cloud based IoT. The paper has also discussed the research design for the proposed paper and will proceed accordingly. The paper, can be concluded to state that IoT is prominent in today’s industry however its security & privacy concerns should be given more attention to ensure that the outcome from the system is adequate.
References
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Sulleyman, A. (2017). Google AI creates its own ‘child’ bot. Retrieved from https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/google-child-ai-bot-nasnet-automl-machine-learning-artificial-intelligence-a8093201.html
Xu, B., Da Xu, L., Cai, H., Xie, C., Hu, J., & Bu, F. (2014). Ubiquitous data accessing method in IoT-based information system for emergency medical services. IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, 10(2), 1578-1586.
Zhu, Q., Wang, R., Chen, Q., Liu, Y., & Qin, W. (2010, December). Iot gateway: Bridgingwireless sensor networks into internet of things. In Embedded and Ubiquitous Computing (EUC), 2010 IEEE/IFIP 8th International Conference on (pp. 347-352). Ieee.
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