http://www.fortune.com/adsectionsCONNECTED DEVICES ARE TRANSFORMING
the way things are done inside hospitals, power plants, and
warehouses; but all that connectedness can mean increased
risk if systems aren’t properly protected.
Take health care. Tech-savvy hospitals are deploying
thousands of Internet-connected instruments, from video-
linked ambulances to smart intravenous pumps that “talk” to
medicinal libraries. This fast-expanding universe of tools—all
connected via the Internet of Things (IoT)—gives malicious
actors countless new entry points for wreaking havoc. “We’re
a technology-driven industry, and it’s very important to us,”
says David Hines, manager of network engineering for a ma-
jor health care provider. “But with the use of that technology,
the risk is exponentially higher.”
When things go wrong, the impact can be huge. In 2016,
the Mirai botnet compromised IoT security cameras that
were used to launch “distributed denial of service,” or DDoS
attacks, against key Internet (DNS) services. Result: Internet
connections slowed or failed for Internet users up and down
the East Coast. The billions of IoT devices that have come
online in just the past few years provide attackers with a new
arsenal.
Mirai also highlighted the lack of security in—and threats
from—consumer-grade IoT devices,” says a May 2018 re-
port from the U.S. Departments of Commerce and Homeland
Security. “As a new technology, IoT devices are often built
and deployed without important security features and prac-
tices in place.” Such devices can easily become weaponizedDefenders of America’s
Interests See Cyberthreats
Before Harm Is Done
and used to launch attacks from anywhere.
Research published in December 2018 by NETSCOUT, a
leading provider of service assurance and security solutions
indicates that vulnerable IoT devices are bombarded with
brute force login attempts using default IoT credentials within
fi ve minutes of being connected.
To handle the increased risks, which ignore borders and
organizational lines, companies and the federal government
are being proactive. “We will defend forward to disrupt or
halt malicious cyber activity at its source, including activity
that falls below the level of armed confl ict,” says the Penta-
gon’s Cyber Strategy Summary from last September.
Threats increasingly require fast action. NETSCOUT’s
solutions build on the “defend forward” approach, identifying
threats—and potential threats—as soon as they are seen in
the physical, virtual, and cloud environments we rely upon.
The goal is to stop threats more quickly and effi ciently,
nearer to their source—reducing cost and risk for the target,
pushing them back to the attacker.
Critical industries are adopting this proactive approach,
using NETSCOUT to get the visibility they need, sharing
intelligence about emerging dangers on the ever-expanding
landscape of connected devices including using their unique
ATLAS Threat Visibility platform. The goal: Make sure they
do their jobs and heed proper limits.
“You can’t mitigate the risk if you don’t know the behav-
ior” of every connected device, Hines says. “And the only
way to know the behavior is to have the visibility.” zCONTENT FROM NETSCOUT
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