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Gemalto study unveils only half of businesses can detect IoT security breaches

January 21, 2019

Gemalto, a digital security company, found that only 48 percent of businesses can detect when their internet-of-thing devices are breached. The company surveyed 950 IT and business decision makers globally on how they are using IoT and blockchain, according to a press release.

Most decision makers wanted more uniform government regulations. In fact, 79 percent of those surveyed wanted more robust guidelines on IoT security from governments, and 95 percent of businesses wanted governments to put uniform regulations in place.

"Given the increase in the number of IoT-enabled devices, it's extremely worrying to see that businesses still can't detect if they have been breached," Jason Hart, CTO, data protection at Gemalto, said in the release. "With no consistent regulation guiding the industry, it's no surprise the threats — and, in turn, vulnerability of businesses — are increasing. This will only continue unless governments step in now to help industry avoid losing control."

Other key findings include:

• 23 percent believe blockchain would help secure IoT devices.
• 19 percent of businesses have adopted blockchain, up from 9 percent last year.
• 71 percent encrypt their data and 38 percent use two-factor authentication.
• 62 percent believe IoT security needs to improve.