IoT (Internet of Things)
The objective of this document is to outline the Internet of Things (IoT) in the modern world and how they affect human lives.
Internet of Things (IoT) is the connection and interaction in between physical devices in order to communicate among each other to exchange data, observe, review patterns and individual behaviours, analyse them and take necessary actions. IoT is based on connecting devices together such as mobile phones, vehicles, home appliances and other wearable embedded with sensors and activators, as well as through Internet so that these objects can exchange data with each other in a network.
In the modern world, the usage of technology and mobile ubiquitous devices are increased in a highly demanding manner. With IoT, standard living factors, efficiency and productivity of day to day life activities are highly increased. Advancement in industries such as medicine, security, power, agriculture, aviation, smart cities and smart homes are some of the examples that IoT technological aspects are strongly established.
Advantages
IoT encourages machine to machine communication (M2M). Smart devices can stay interconnected to one another to control core activities related to each individual device. This improves the quality of life of human beings. Due to wireless infrastructure, it requires less human interactions to carry on technology-based activities, leading to operational efficiency through process automation. Since IoT technology encourages gathering, storing and analysing information, people can make better decisions and lower the production risks. Large organizations can track staff performance, equipment efficiency and product quality through IoT.
In the present, a normal lifestyle has become hectic where people have busy schedules to follow and less time to worry about the small day to day activities. This is where the IoT technology provides a major comfort by improving time management, greater convenience and a better standard of living. With the use of a smartphone, people can control the on-off facilities of electronic devices such as bulbs, refrigerators, air conditioners, ovens, microwaves, fans, washing machines, vehicles, and etc. People can give commands or schedule a timeline so that the devices can control technology-based activities. To control those devices through the internet, certain sensors and activators should be embedded. For example, a person can give commands to a smart car with the use of the mobile phone to self-start, self-park, automatically change lanes and navigate to certain destinations with the driver’s confirmation. With remotely given instructions by a family member, a microwaved meal can be ready, the temperature of the home is set comfortably, and lights are switch-on by the time the family arrives home at night. A person can put clothes into a washing machine and switch-on the washing machine when he/ she is at the office. All these activities can be controlled by giving basic commands to smart devices.
By using IoT, medical, security and agriculture fields can generate excellent and productive results.
By implementing chips, helpmate robotic systems, proper vital signs (pulse rate, temperature, respiration rate, and blood pressure) monitoring devices for patients, the doctors can respond immediately in emergency healthcare situations. Smart beds in hospitals can collect detailed information about patients’ sleeping positions, vital levels and detect bedsores. The smart wearable can be used by people in order to monitor their health, exercises, nutrition insights and other fitness-related activities. With the increasing development in modern technology, in order to treat cancer patients, symptoms-tracking devices, applications are introduced. These devices are capable of collecting information related to weight changes, blood pressure changes and providing physicians details of symptoms, side effects due to medicine related to each patient.
IoT can help to improve smart agriculture by collecting millions of data related to weather conditions, soil quality, crop’s growth progress and cattle’s health. By using IoT in smart farming, the farmers get the ability to foresee the harvest and it allows to plan for better cultivating strategies. There are weather stations combining various smart farming sensors which can be located in the field. These are capable of mapping climate changes and choosing appropriate crops to cultivate giving the farmers to gain a high-quality harvest in large volumes. In order to manage cattle, IoT agriculture-related sensors can be attached to cattle to monitor health and performance on each cow individually as well as get collective information about the herd.
Every day there are potential threats to data in organizations generated from malware attacks. In such an occurrence, the smart devices should be able to capture and alert necessary people. For example, if security cameras are properly installed, people can remotely monitor the security of their houses and organizations by using smart devices. Today, since the reputation and success of business processes mainly depends on data security, protecting confidential data is a top priority in most organizations worldwide.
Disadvantages
There are disadvantages to IoT such as compatibility, complexity problems related to devices and privacy, security, safety issues related to sensitive information shared and stored in devices.
Most of the IoT related devices are expensive and compatibility is different from one device to another making it complex to properly connect each device. If malfunctions occur in the sensors and activators inserted in devices, the whole process might cause huge problems rather than making life easier.
For an example, if the refrigerator indicates false information that the temperature is very high, the user might set the temperature to a lower level and food inside might get frozen and the freezing controllers in the refrigerator can get damaged. Thus, users need to buy devices that are compatible with each other in order to avoid such compatibility issues.
Since all the devices are interconnected, data exposure is a vulnerability related to IoT. By controlling one device connected to all the other devices, an external party can control the whole system.
In the present, most people and organizations store data in digital devices which are synced to other devices. Because of that, there is a high risk of confidential data to be exposed to external parties.
Importance of Security in IoT
To make basic activities easier, people centralize one device and let the other devices to be controlled by the centralized device. Even though this facility provides various advantages, it can also cause huge problems if at least one device of the whole connected network is insecure. If unauthorized access is connected with the particular device, the intruder is capable of controlling all home or organizational appliances. In such scenarios, the users should be aware of social engineering attacks such as Baiting, Scareware, Pretexting, Phishing, Spear phishing and etc.
Implementing proper controls and securing smart devices with anti-virus software and firewalls is essential to avoid malfunctions and data exposure to external parties. For organizations, managing centralized activities using IoT should be handled through a protected network. Secure data storage and access to data only with authorized identification should be followed. In case of unauthorized access, there should be security features to capture such attacks, alert necessary people and control the damage.
The future of IoT
IoT is basically becoming a huge part of how we interact with daily activities. But, most people lack the basic knowledge and reluctant to use IoT for the betterment of their lifestyle. In the future, people will be more open and aware of smart devices. Within 5–10 years, millions of IoT devices will be introduced to the business market and, all the human activities will be connected and monitored through IoT. The devices will get smarter through artificial intelligence and machine learning. With precise data in hand, people will be able to manage business processes more efficiently, effectively and intelligently. And there will be more security threats as well.
According to the above facts, it is reasonable to state that the IoT can be a blessing as well as a curse in human life. While making life easier with interconnected smart facilities, the same factors can cause disadvantages to the humankind. Thus, the users should be more responsible and keen when handling IoT related processes and should take necessary precautions to avoid security breaches and malfunctions in devices.
References
[1] S. Patterson, “How to improve IoT security”. 2017
[2] P. Saxena, “The advantages and disadvantages of Internet of Things”, 2016
[3] M. Aleksandrova, “IoT in Agriculture: 5 Technology Use Cases for Smart Farming”, 2018
