Security Flaws in IoT Devices: Investigation and Defense Mechanisms

Abstract

The proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices has led to massive generation of sensor data and increase in attack vectors. Traffic generated by these devices require more exploratory studies in order to determine the effective ways to secure transmitted data and avert exploitation by hackers. IoT devices susceptibility to direct or remote manipulation, secure channel used for message transmission and resilience of the underlying middleware (broker) to exploitation are very important issues that worth consideration. With more data ever being collected than before, the security of user’s information and devices identities are becoming a great concern. In this research work, we evaluate the vulnerabilities inherent in an IoT ecosystem design that was developed using Raspberry Pi, sensors and MQTT protocol. We also developed a real-time anomaly detection in sensor reading to avert dangerous situation and evaluate the effectiveness of our work. Keywords: Internet of Things, Vulnerabilities, Data privacy, Security mechanisms DOI : 10.7176/JIEA/10-1-04 Publication date: January 31 st 2020