According to IoT statistics, there are more than 10 billion IoT devices in the world right now. That number will reach the 25.4 billion mark by 2030. A vast majority of organizations (83%) who have implemented IoT think that it has a positive experience on their productivity and efficiency. Even the majority of retailers agrees to this notion as 94% of retailers think that benefits of implementing IoT devices outweighs the risk.

Just like every other technology, there is also a dark side to IoT. The sheer number of IoT devices connected to a network increases your enterprise attack surface exponentially and gives cyberattackers multiple targets to hit. Since these devices remain in isolation for most part and connect wirelessly to your network, they are more vulnerable to attacks. The lack of encryption and outdated software makes them a soft target for cybercriminals.

How can you protect your IoT devices from cybersecurity attacks in such a situation? The answer lies in blockchain technology. Yes, you read that right, blockchain technology. If you are interested in learning how blockchain technology can help you secure your IoT network then, this article is for you.

In this article, you will learn about how blockchain technology can help you secure your internet of things devices.

Security Challenges with IoT Devices

Before we discuss how blockchain technology can secure your IoT devices, it is important to know what security challenges IoT devices pose to your enterprise network. Let’s look at each one in detail to give you a better idea about them.

●       Unauthorized Access

●       Network Breaches

●       Software Attacks

Unauthorized Access

Since hundreds of IoT devices are connected to a single network, it gives hackers the ability to put their foot in the door by compromising a single device. Sometimes, even employee devices can have access to critical data but don’t have the right protection and authentication in place to prevent unauthorized access. Cybercriminals can take advantage of this to gain access to sensitive business data.

Network Breaches

When your IT and security teams are busy setting up the network protocols, devices and establishing standards, hackers can take advantage of this opportunity and attempt to get into the network. This allows attackers to penetrate the network, which later leads to a data breach.

Software Attacks

By far the most common type of cybersecurity attacks enterprises become a target of are software based attacks. As mobile devices use apps created by a mobile app development company, IoT devices have their own unique software. If the devices connecting to your enterprise network are running on an outdated software version, it contains loopholes, which can easily be exploited by hackers to fulfill their malicious designs. The best way to protect your business from software-based attacks is to keep everything up to date.

How Blockchain Can Secure IoT Devices?

Here is how blockchain can hacker proof your IoT devices.

1.  Security of Every Transaction

One of the biggest reasons why the financial industry has adopted blockchain technology is because of the security of each transaction. Each transaction needs to be verified by sender, miner and receiver in order to be considered valid. If any one of these parties reject the transaction, the transaction can not occur, which adds a layer of security to every transaction you make. This is not only limited to financial transactions. You can apply the same concept on data. This means that blockchain technology allows you to store your sensitive data and user credentials securely. This mitigates the risk of data breaches and theft to a certain degree.

2.  Decentralized Security

Unlike other security solutions that take a centralized approach to security, blockchain flips the script with decentralized security. The problem with centralized security is that there is one main source and if it is compromised, all other nodes become vulnerable. Meanwhile, this is not the case in blockchain technology as it works on a distributed model.

This makes it more difficult for hackers to penetrate into your IoT network if it is protected by blockchain technology. Best of all, blockchain technology can not only keep your data safe but it can do it without compromising on the accessibility factor. Moreover, blockchain also offers unlimited opportunity for scalability so no matter how large your IoT network grows, it can handle it without breaking a sweat.

3.  Trustworthy IoT Environment

Another highlighting trait for blockchain technology is that it works on unique code. This means that a person who has access to that unique code is only entitled to access that data. This prevents unauthorized access to your critical business data and creates a sense of trust. You can also secure user identities at every step to prevent any mishap. This goes a long way in ensuring data privacy and security.

4.  Minimizes Human Errors

If you are worried about human errors such as wrong data input, wrong document compilation or losing files by mistake then, blockchain technology could be an ideal solution for you. With blockchain, you can offer an encrypted public identity for all devices, which is tracked on a distributed ledger. This will save them from entering the login credentials every time they have to login.

It even helps when it comes to tracking as you can easily see which systems were compromised or breached. You can easily gain visibility into every activity taking place on your IoT network which makes security monitoring a whole lot convenient. All this goes a long way in reducing human errors and increasing productivity and efficiency.

5.  Secure Communication

Since all the transactions taking place on a network are recorded on a decentralized database, blockchain technology can prove to be a great solution for securing communication between different parties. Every IoT device has their own encryption key in a secured blockchain environment. This makes sharing confidential information between devices much easier. In addition to this, it also opens doors for secure collaboration and communication between different functional units.

How do you use blockchain technology in your organization? What steps do you take to secure your IoT devices? Share it with us in the comments section below.