I’m seeing a lot of pre-conference promotion of content from the big Internet of Things Expo out in Santa Clara in early November. One interesting presentation that is worth checking out (the slides are already online) is James Kobielus’s talk on how IT professionals should address the security challenges of IoT. Kobielus is IBM’s program director for Big Data analytics product marketing. In his presentation, he tackles the question of whether the Internet of Things is (to use his words) “too big, diverse, pervasive, and dynamic to secure comprehensively?” [Read our coverage of Internet of Things security here. ] After all, history will show that we’ve done – at best – a so-so job of securing the Internet of machines. How will adding a few zeros to the number of connected endpoints make things better? IoT will undermine even the tenuous walls we’ve built around our existing IT infrastructure: moving us to a […]
Enterprise
Securing Networks in the Internet of Things Era | Help Net
Cricket Liu, the CIO of Infoblox has an interesting editorial over at Help Net Security today that looks at the challenge of securing the Internet of Things. Among other things, he reveals the results of a commissioned survey of 400 network professionals in the UK and US that revealed that 78 percent already have precursor IoT devices on their networks – including badge readers, networked cash registers, vending machines and so on. Seventy three percent of those surveyed acknowledged using connected surveillance gear like CCTV on their networks. That shouldn’t be surprising. What is surprising is that a strong majority of respondents – 63 percent – also saw those devices and IoT in general as a threat to network security. So: IoT adoption is gaining speed, and worries about IoT security are gaining traction. The survey suggests that few IT organisations have deployed IoT-specific infrastructure, such as dedicated networks for IoT devices or management […]
Apple And IBM: The Corporatization of Consumerization
Apple Computer has built up a brand so strong that it borders on being a cult. That is why it is jarring to realize that, at the end of the day, Steve Jobs’ baby is just another company that needs to make its numbers each quarter and keep Wall Street happy. The company’s announcement of an exclusive partnership with IBM is just that: a reminder that Apple’s core business is business, and that the company has been sorely underperforming in a key market: the enterprise. Whatever its faults, IBM is flush with the very things that Apple lacks: the brand, technology, expertise and reach that puts enterprise technology buyers at ease. As we reported, IBM will offer mobile device management, security, data analytics and cross-platform integrations for Apple’s iPad and iPhone that leverage IBM’s cloud services. There will be IBM-managed offerings around mobile device activation, supply and management tailored to businesses. But the partnership is something more- […]