Evolving Threat Landscape in IoT and IIoT Environments

Abstract

The meteoric rise of the internet of things (IoT) and industrial internet of things (IIoT) is reshaping our world, ushering in an era of hyper-connectivity and automation. This interconnected landscape, however, presents a significant paradigm shift in the cybersecurity landscape. This chapter delves into the unique challenges that this interconnected world presents, outlining the vulnerabilities inherent in IoT/IIoT environments and the evolving tactics employed by attackers to exploit them. The sheer scalability of these ecosystems presents a significant challenge. Billions of devices are projected to be online in the coming years, creating a vast and ever-expanding attack surface. This chapter explores some of the most common attack vectors employed by malicious actors. One prevalent threat is the formation of botnets. By compromising devices, attackers can create a distributed network with immense processing power. This processing power can then be harnessed for a variety of malicious purposes, such as launching denial-of-service (DoS) attacks or generating spam emails.