Network control made possible by the Internet of Things (IoT)

The limited processing power of most connected objects prevents the devices from having embedded sophisticated security capabilities. This creates two significant problems: devices are hard to configure, and they are easy to hack.

Once an object is compromised, the whole enterprise network becomes vulnerable to Trojan horses, attacks and threats. When you consider that enterprises connect thousands, if not millions of these objects, the challenge becomes clear: configuration and management of individual devices is totally unrealistic, and the security risks are enormous.

Three major steps to connect, manage and properly control any IoT device must be followed.

Discover and classify

Each object connected to the network must be discovered and classified. Digital Age Networking provides the ability to access a very large (29+ million) device database to immediately identify the device (camera, sensor, door lock or other), automatically provision and apply the appropriate configuration policies.

Virtual segmentation

It is critical to segment a single physical network infrastructure into separate virtual networks (containers), to ensure each service or application has its own dedicated segment, guaranteeing proper function and secure operations.

Continuous monitoring

The network monitors behaviours to ensure the devices and applications are functioning as desired. Each authorised object is stored in an inventory. This enables IT to know exactly and instantly how many devices are connected to the network. It is important to continuously monitor a connected network object so that immediate action can be taken if there is a deviation from usual behaviours.

In the event of unusual activity, a faulty device can be disconnected by the network and a notification sent to the network administrator, or the destination of the dedicated container can be changed to allow further verification.