Ten billion Internet of Things (IoT) nodes are connected today, ten times more than just a decade ago, and the trend is continuing unabated. With this growth comes an equal growth of opportunities for attackers. The estimated annual cost of cyberattacks ranges from tens of billions of dollars to over a trillion, and it too keeps rising. Therefore, security considerations are now essential to continue the successful scaling of the IoT. IoT security begins with the security of the IoT nodes.
No company wants to see its name in the same sentence as “breached, and customer data was stolen.” What’s more, connected devices are also subject to government regulations, such as FDA rules for medical devices, the European Cyber Resilience Act, U.S./EU cybersecurity requirements for Industry 4.0 critical infrastructures, and several new emerging standards for the automotive industry. Those requirements push for high level security while not explicitly mandating the use of hardware-based security. However, IoT nodes are often large-volume, cost-optimized appliances—creating challenges to balance security and cost.
