From Internet of Things (IoT), the world is graduating to Internet of Everything (IoE). The world has become a global village, with people reaching any part at the click of a button. But these benefits pale into insignificance because of the risk of digital disasters, LUCAS AJANAKU reports.
The world has become a global village courtesy of the internet, which has bridged the gulf that existed in the past. Aside sending electronic mails (e-mails), it is now possible to make video calls on Facebook while Skype is also available for people to make internet calls.
To underscore the boom in the industry, there are now the Internet of Things (IoT) and the Internet of Everything (IoE).
A free online knowledge platform, Wikipaedia, defines IoT as “the interconnection of uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices within the existing Internet infrastructure. Typically, IoT is expected to offer advanced connectivity of devices, systems, and services that go beyond machine-to-machine communications (M2M) and covers a variety of protocols, domains, and applications. The interconnection of these embedded devices (including smart objects), is expected to usher in automation in nearly all fields, while also enabling advanced applications like a Smart Grid.
“Things, in the IoT, can refer to a wide variety of devices such as heart monitoring implants, biochip transponders on farm animals, automobiles with built-in sensors, or field operation devices that assist fire-fighters in search and rescue. Current market examples include smart thermostat systems and washer/dryers that utilise WiFi for remote monitoring.”
According to Gartner, there will be nearly 26 billion devices on the IoT by 2020 while ABI Research estimates that more than 30 billion devices will be wirelessly connected to the IoT by 2020. A recent survey done by Pew Research Internet Project, a large majority of the technology experts and engaged Internet users who responded—83 per cent—agreed with the notion that the Internet/Cloud of Things, embedded and wearable computing (and the corresponding dynamic systems will have widespread and beneficial effects by 2025. Thus, it is clear that the IoT will consist of a very large number of devices being connected to the internet.
Integration with the Internet implies that devices will utilise an internet protocol (IP) address as a unique identifier. However, due to the limited address space of IPv4 (which allows for 4.3 billion unique addresses), objects in the IoT will have to use IPv6 to accommodate the extremely large address space required.
According to United States (U.S) technology giant, Cisco Systems Incorporated, the IoE is the “bringing together of people, process, data, and things to make network connections more relevant and valuable than ever before-turning information into actions that create new capabilities, richer experiences, and unprecedented economic opportunity for businesses, individuals, and countries.”
Cisco said in nearly all industries, including retail, an accelerating innovation curve is reshaping the business landscape. It argued that in this environment, barriers to market entry are falling, customers are demanding new ways of interacting, and margins are compressing.
Cisco economic analysis and research indicated that this value would be driven by the IoE — the networked connection of people, process, data, and things. Cisco predicted that $14.4 trillion of value (net profits) would be at stake globally for private-sector companies over the next decade, based on their ability to harness IoE
However, what will determine how the country benefits from these enormous benefits IoT and IoE bring to the individuals and corporate bodies is how far the authorities are able to secure the internet. Director, Public Affairs at the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Tony Ojobo said the internet remained an unregulated public platform.
Chief Executive Officer, Disc Communication Limited, Bayo Banjo said cases of banks’ security being breached are just a tip of the iceberg. According to him, what is happening now that is being termed cyber crimes are not cyber crimes, but “cyber-assisted crimes” because when the real cyber crimes come, the effects will be disastrous to the nation. Banjo, who is the President, Nigeria Internet Group (NIG), urged the government to take urgent steps to address the situation. He said hackers are not old men, but young boys who are adventurous and willing to explore.
Chief Executive Officer, Teledon Group, Dr Emmanuel Ekuwem, agreed no less with Banjo. According to him, the threats on the cyber space are real. He said banks, telcos, cards are increasingly coming under attacks. He said the air traffic controller at the nation’s airport could also be breached, warning that such a development will unleash colossal damage on the nation.
President, Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ALTON), Lanre Ajayi, said wherever and whenever there are economic and social activities, threats are bound to be lurking in the corner. He said the cyberspace has opened up a huge vista of business opportunities while social websites such as Facebook, WhatsApp and others have strengthened social bonds among people without borders. He identified cybercrimes to include but not limited to cyber espionage, cyber terrorism, child online abuse and cyber exploitation.
This year’s Zurich Cyber Risk Report, created in collaboration with the international think-tank, Atlantic Council, warned that ‘cyber-risk management professionals need to look beyond their internal information technology safeguards to interconnected risks, which can build up relating to counterparties, outsourced suppliers, supply chains, disruptive technologies, upstream infrastructure and external shocks.
It added that a ‘build-up in these risks could create a failure on a similar scale to the 2008 financial crisis. Such interconnected risks are compounded when a company outsources the management of its servers, information technology and cyber security to focus on its core activities. Little information may be known about the third party’s information security or business continuity safeguards and it may also in turn outsource activities to other companies.’
Group Chief Risk Officer & Regional Chairman Europe, Zurich Insurance Group, Axel Lehmann, wrote: “The internet is the most complex system humanity has ever devised. Although it has been incredibly resilient for the past few decades, the risk is that the complexity, which has made cyberspace relatively risk-free can – and likely will – backfire.
“Organisations are unknowingly exposed to risks outside their organisations, having outsourced, interconnected or exposed themselves to an increasingly complex and unknowable web of networks.
“Few people truly understand their own computers or the internet, or the cloud to which they connect, just as few truly understood the financial system as a whole or the parts to which they are most directly exposed.”
Interconnectedness, recipe for disaster
Zurich noted in its report that the internet is the most complex system humanity has ever devised – “and our track record of successfully managing complex systems is far from perfect.
“The internet is highly interconnected and tightly coupled with society, meaning that (as in other such systems) a small failure or series of them in one place can cascade, producing an outsized impact elsewhere,” the report noted.
Movement of data into the cloud is now the vogue with data centres springing up everywhere. While some have servers in the country, others have offshore. Should a major cloud service crash or be compromised, the effects of such a failure would cascade to all systems and businesses dependent on it everywhere.
Though these threats are mostly targeted at businesses and governments, these days, even the most mundane of tasks get coupled and linked to the internet. Thus, the growing complexity of the networks puts the entire system at greater risk of attack.
Zurich said: “On the internet, it has been easier to attack than defend for decades. The original architecture of the internet was founded on trust, not security – software is still poorly written and secured, and the system is so complex that it is difficult to defend. Systems in which one set or participants have asymmetric advantages, year after year and decade after decade, must hit a tipping point when there are more predators than prey.”
Ajayi identified that phishing (identity theft), spamming, denial of services (DoS) and viral attacks are now real. Huge mails are now sent to people’s servers the weight of which disallows useful mails to get to its destination, leading to DoS.
The report noted that in time past, cyber attacks and incidents online have only really broken “things made of silicon” and impacted networks in a digital sense. However, this will not always be the case.
“As the internet connects increasingly with real life, in places like the smart grid interconnection with the electrical power infrastructure… cyber incidents will break things made not of silicon, but of concrete and steel.”
Way forward
Analysts say the passage into law of the cyber security bills pending in the National Assembly is one way to wriggle out of the quagmire. Former Director-General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) Prof Cleopas Angaye, said the quick passage of the cyber security bills pending before the National Assembly into law and training of lawyers and judges about the new crime may help the situation.
Executive Vice Chairman, NCC, Dr Eugene Juwah says the war against cyber crooks cannot be fought on a stand-alone basis since internet is a borderless enabler. He urged global collaboration, especially in the area of cross border harmonisation of laws and regulations.
Another general consensus among stakeholders is the need to create awareness about the inherent dangers lurking in the internet. Then registration of all information technology (IT) professionals in the country will assist. Other recommendations included embedding security in the software to reduce the rate of vulnerability; insurance should also be considered.
Zurich, however, recommended that risk managers, regulators, and organisations with system-wide responsibility need to focus more on resilience and agility rather than simply prevention.
“In an increasingly interconnected world, risks can strike quickly and from any direction – so, too, is it equally critical that those affected are able to respond quickly to ride out the shocks,” the group said.
