As the Internet of things develops, the use of IoT devices is growing out of all proportion. And with this growth comes risk of cyber-attack and hacker intrusion. Reports of IoT attacks increased 600 percent from 2016 to 2017, research shows. 

To protect enterprise networks, Extreme Networks has released a simple security solution to help organisations secure their IoT devices. Defender for IoT can be deployed on any network and is so easy to use even non-technical staff at schools, hospitals, retailers and hospitality venues can use it to isolate and protect both wired and wireless IoT devices from cyberattacks.  

The product launched this week, Defender for IoT is simple to deploy and easy to maintain. Users simply plug the Defender Adapter into an Ethernet port and run the associated application. The Defender application learns the typical traffic patterns of network devices, and dynamically generates a security policy that locks down what a device communicates with and how it can communicate, automating edge network security for the enterprise. Once initial device profiles have been dynamically generated, non-technical staff can easily place the adapter between the device and the network and apply the appropriate security profile using a simple drop-down menu.  

IoT devices present two major security flaws for businesses today. Most lack embedded security—they were built to run on private networks where the assumption was it was tightly controlled, and device-level security wasn’t required. Manufacturers never considered that the private enterprise network could be connected to the public internet, and therefore the devices may run out-of-date operating systems, have hardcoded passwords and/or lack anti-virus and firewall capabilities. And they are typically deployed in a flat or unsegmented network so that if breached, the attacker can gain access to sensitive areas of the network.  

Segmentation and isolation 

With layer 2-7 visibility, Defender for IoT allows users to easily segment groups of IoT devices into multiple, isolated secure zones, reducing the network attack surface.  Users can also centrally monitor and track device usage, location and roaming. This helps customers mitigate the risk of an attacker gaining access to more sensitive areas of the network.  

Defender for IoT works with any vendor’s IP network, providing in-line protection of IoT devices and segmentation through IPSec tunnels– without network changes. Additionally, Defender for IoT integrates with Extreme Fabric Connect, giving customers the ability to leverage network automation capabilities and dynamic auto-attach functionality to streamline edge security efforts. 

Useful links: https://www.extremenetworks.com/