Top 10 Vulnerabilities that Make IoT Devices Insecure | Venafi (2024)

“Use of easily brute forced, publicly available, or unchangeable credentials, including backdoors in firmware or client software that grants unauthorized access to deployed systems.”

Weak, default, and hardcoded passwords are the easiest way for attackers to compromise IoT devices and launch large-scale botnets, and other malware. Managing passwords in a distributed IoT ecosystem is a time-consuming and difficult responsibility, especially since IoT devices are managed over-the-air.

“Unneeded or insecure network services running on the device itself, especially those exposed to the internet, that compromise the confidentiality, integrity/authenticity, or availability of information or allow unauthorized remote control.”

Adversaries are seeking to exploit weaknesses in the communication protocol and services running on IoT devices to compromise and breach sensitive or confidential information exchanged between the device and a server. Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) attacks aim to exploit these vulnerabilities in order to capture credentials used to authenticate endpoints and leverage credentials to launch broader attacks. It is therefore imperative to secure IoT communications with industry best practices.

“Insecure web, backend API, cloud, or mobile interfaces in the ecosystem outside of the device that allows compromise of the device or its related components. Common issues include a lack of authentication/authorization, lacking or weak encryption, and a lack of input and output filtering.”

A strong authentication and authorization mechanism needs to be in place here. Several solutions have been developed to safeguard the identity of IoT devices. With the use of an effective device identity mechanism, whenever a server communicates with an IoT device, the server will be able to differentiate between a valid endpoint and a rogue one by forcing the endpoint to authenticate itself.

“Lack of ability to securely update the device. This includes lack of firmware validation on device, lack of secure delivery (un-encrypted in transit), lack of anti-rollback mechanisms, and lack of notifications of security changes due to updates.”

Unauthorized software and firmware updates are a major threat vector for launching attacks against IoT devices. Sectorslike healthcare or energy are particularly vulnerable. To secure the firmware and software updates, we need to secure access to the updates and verify the source and the integrity of the updates.

“Use of deprecated or insecure software components/libraries that could allow the device to be compromised. This includes insecure customization of operating system platforms, and the use of third-party software or hardware components from a compromised supply chain.”

The security of the IoT ecosystem may be compromised by vulnerabilities in software dependencies or legacy systems. The use of open-source components by manufacturers to build their IoT devices creates a complex supply chain that is difficult to track. These components might inherit vulnerabilities known to the attackers, creating an expanded threat landscape waiting to be exploited.

“User’s personal information stored on the device or in the ecosystem that is used insecurely, improperly, or without permission.”

Many deployed IoT devices collect personal data that needs to be securely stored and processed to maintain compliance with the various privacy regulations, such as GDPR or CCPA. This personal data might be anything from medical information to power consumption and driving behavior. Lack of appropriate controls will jeopardize users’ privacy and will have legal consequences.

“Lack of encryption or access control of sensitive data anywhere within the ecosystem, including at rest, in transit, or during processing.”

The protection of IoT data—either at rest or in transit—is of great importance to the reliability and integrity of IoT applications. This data is used in automated decision-making processes and controls that can have serious repercussions.

“Lack of security support on devices deployed in production, including asset management, update management, secure decommissioning, systems monitoring, and response capabilities.”

One of the most important tasks and one of the most significant security challenges in the IoT ecosystem is managing all devices throughout their lifecycle. If unauthorized devices are introduced in the IoT ecosystem, they will be able to gain access and surveil corporate networks and intercept traffic and information. The key concerns of IoT device management are the provisioning, operation and updating of devices. The discovery and identification of IoT devices is a necessary first step in the monitoring and protection of these devices.

“Devices or systems shipped with insecure default settings or lack the ability to make the system more secure by restricting operators from modifying configurations.”

Once these settings are compromised, adversaries can go after hardcoded default passwords, hidden backdoors and vulnerabilities in the device firmware. At the same time, these settings are difficult for a user to change. Having a deep understanding of these settings and the security gaps they introduce is a first step to implementing the appropriate controls for hardening these devices.

“Lack of physical hardening measures, allowing potential attackers to gain sensitive information that can help in a future remote attack or take local control of the device.”

IoT devices are deployed in dispersed and remote environments. An attacker may disrupt the services offered by IoT devices by gaining access and tampering with the physical layer. Such actions could prevent, for example, sensors from detecting risks like fire, flood, and unexpected motion. We should ensure that the hardware is safe from tampering, physical access, manipulation, and sabotage.