Major Challenges Everyone Should Know about the IOT (Internet of Things)

Introduction

IoT (Internet of Things) is a network of devices connected over internet. This includes  cars, home appliances, and other embedded electronic devices. With the help of IoT a network is formed with these devices so that they can be uniquely identified over the internet.

IoT devices enable you to switch your Air Conditioner on before you reach home, or Switch ON or off your lights when you are not at home, or start your car before you reach to it.

However, despite all these innovations, this technology space has not yet stabilized completely. It faces challenges in the form of security, accessibility and other areas some which have been addressed below:

Standard

As this is a new field and still in its growth phase, it lacks in terms of having standards and laws. i.e. if a device is tracking the location of a user, what measures will be taken for data security from hackers. Also there are many companies whose primary business is to collect and sell the data. The ways through which data will be regulated to prevent any harmful use still remains undecided.

Due to lack of standards, many competitors try to bring the devices in the market before their competitors. The results in an increase of the hardware and software cost, along with adding complications in the configuration and management of IoT devices.

The use if standard protocols can play an important role in addressing the following issues to some extent:

• Data Collection and Processing
• Network Protocols
• Standards for Structured and Unstructured Data

Privacy

IoT has created a lot of concerns for privacy. Tracking devices, smart electrical appliances having voice to facial recognition, devices continuously listening or records the video and transmitting them selectively can be Privacy concern for User. Also the devices transmitting the data using third party applications can also be a privacy concern too.

This privacy concern can be resolved by defining the standards and law for data integrity. Also some strategies are need to be defined to resolve this issue as this can be core issue for the growth of IoT industry.

Security

Security has always remained a main concern for any technology. When it comes to internet of things (IoT) it becomes more crucial. The greater the number of connect devices, the higher the chances for hackers to hack your data and devices.

Many IoT devices collect your data for future use, and for predictive analysis and forecasting. This can easily be exploited by the hacker to hack the stream of data, going to and from the device. Our lives can be a victim of this hacking exercise, as the use of IoT devices become a pervasive part of our lives.

This vulnerability can be avoided by standardizing the devices and protocols used by the devices. Unfortunately, currently these are missing.

Availability

Currently IoT does not have any proper standard. Many giants are competing each other to lead the industry to set their own practices as standards.

Currently a centralized approach is being adopted by many developers, but it is being feared that an approach like this will create many issues as the number devices connected to a network increase. At the same time, it will definitely affect the availability of devices as well. Unavailability of network for devices can be crucial in many cases. i.e. water tank sensor does not gives the reading on time. Issues like this can be resolved by using the decentralized approach.

Conclusion

IoT is a rapidly growing industry and the use of IoT devices has shown phenomenal growth over the passage of time. Experts claim that the number of connected IoT devices will cross 20 billion by 2020 and this will have huge impact on the economic, social and technological facets of human life.