This technology is keeping data more secure than ever

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The world will soon be buzzing with tens of billions of networked devices. They could be anywhere, owned by anyone, and yet connected to a company's system through the open Internet.

How can we make that many devices - all of those nodes on the Internet of Things - safe and secure? Humans alone can't possibly do it. The era of IoT will require a new kind of cognitive security, so machines can learn how to take care of other machines.

IoT promises to transform business and society by bringing in data we never had before about people and things. Yet, as with many disruptive technologies, the IoT opens up new kinds of dangers, too.

Unlike the systems that IT departments have historically managed, today's connected things don't obligingly stay within a company's protected confines. They move around the world and they get connected by employees, contractors and customers; they get handled and manipulated.

A decade ago, as smart phones and tablets infiltrated our lives, information technology (IT) groups began to deal with the considerable security challenge of the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) era. The IoT era makes BYOD seem like child's play, increasing the size and complexity of those challenges by vastly expanding the potential attack surface. The devices could be anywhere, installed by anyone. But too often, security of each device is an afterthought.

The ramifications became apparent in the fall of 2016, when hackers hijacked IoT devices such as DVR set-top boxes and home security cameras to launch a massive denial-of-service attack. A coordinated attack using consumer-purchased devices turned into an Internet infrastructure nightmare, denying access for much of the day to popular sites such as PayPal, Twitter and Spotify.

Imagine the potential consequences if attackers were to take control of connected IoT devices and caused them to operate in a dangerous manner. It's already been shown that hackers can take control of a connected car. What if they can find a way to turn off connected pacemakers?

As IoT applications and solutions generate enormous amounts of data, companies are employing cognitive systems that can learn from the data streaming in. As more data is observed from devices and sensors, IoT platforms can build models of expected behavior of these devices and the applications that rely on them. A cognitive system can even recognize what data it needs in order to solve a security problem, and actually seek out that information on its own.

The good news, then, about cognitive IoT is that while it is good for business, it is also good for security. If a system can learn about itself, it can recognize unusual behavior and take appropriate steps to stop it.

A system could recognize unsecured devices that get connected to a company's network and add layers of protection between those devices and the IT system.

A system could take on some of the qualities of a biological auto-immune system, constantly looking for and neutralizing threats, even if it had never before encountered such a threat.

As cognitive systems learn more, they become more predictive - able to recognize the very beginnings of any kind of attack, predict what the attackers are going to do, and get out ahead of it. This can help alter today's "chase mode," where IT is constantly catching up to hackers' schemes.

Cognitive systems, though, will need to collaborate with human security experts. Humans will have to guide the solutions. IoT security professionals will ensure that the right processes are being followed and that any remediable actions are in line with business guidelines.

Because of high-visibility attacks like the one last fall, organizations are more aware than ever that they need to increase attention to IoT security vulnerabilities, starting at design and continuing through deployment and ongoing management.

Cognitive systems can learn and predict and complement the work of human security experts, helping to get ahead of attackers and turn the tables on how we react.

Learn about the new era of business at www.ibm.com/cognitive, and experience the IBM Cloud at InterConnect 2017.

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