Answer To: 5/16/2020 S-ITC560_202030_SM_I @CSU...
Deepti answered on May 24 2021
IoT: Device Security in Wearable Devices
Abstract
Analysis of privacy and security issues of wearable Inter of Things (IoT) devices is a complicated task. The current system strives to innovate mechanisms that address these major concerns in this upcoming field of technology. As the interaction among users and wearable IoT is increasing, private information is vulnerable to be accessed due to several factors including lack of privacy protections. It is challenging to address privacy and security of information in these devices due to limited capabilities and design. These low processing devices initially aimed at facilitating ease of access to the controlling devices that they interconnect with. Their scope of use increased with inventions (Thierer, 2015) in wearable computing and data monitoring. This IoT technology has not evolved in terms of privacy and security acceptance of the users. The devices are small in size for convenience and portability thus consume less power leading to low processing. This further leads to limited ability to be equipped with robust security mechanisms. In this paper, we review literature on security of wearable IoT devices where the vulnerabilities of the technology are highlighted along with the risks they pose to the user while using the device. We further discuss the security weaknesses that make the wearable devices vulnerable to attacks and loss of data. A comprehensive overview on security and privacy issues is presented.
Keywords: IoT, wearables, wearable IoT, privacy, security, vulnerabilities, risks, challenges, cyberattacks
1. INTRODUCTION
Internet of things is a worldwide environment which interconnects different type of things to the internet anywhere anytime. The application domains of the Internet of Things vary from device to device, device to people and people to people. IoT connectivity enables the devices to collect, exchange and transport data through internet which may be monitored and controlled remotely. With the growth in IoT, large volumes of data are added to networks, data processing, storage and analysis. One of the easier ways to collect, monitor and control this data is through wearable IoT. This technology is fast catching up as it is part of every discussion on IoT and opens door to a full range of new functionalities pervasive connectivity can offer. Smart wearable technology includes its uses in various fields like health care, education and research. One of the main functions delivered by IoT wearables is to provide identification and security. For example, RFID badges. Some of the wearables offer security features like biometric capabilities and measurements. All such devices use another device as a central control for delivering those capabilities. The devices can be automatically connected to the controlling devices using a communication strategy set with an interface.
Wearable IoT devices can be used to monitor the well-being, quality and progress of life of its user. The characteristics that define these devices are controllable, monopolizing, attentive, observable unrestrictive and communicative. The technology continues to evolve exponentially and has achieved in communicating with remote devices involving big data using internet which is omnipresent and cloud computing which is on the verge of becoming omnipresent. This combination of big data, IoT and smart wearable devices created an opportunity to monitor activities and store sensitive information about the user of the device. These wearable devices are carried on the body or integrated with accessories or garments. The wearable technology brings a myriad of benefits to human life. It offers improvement in human life professionally as well as personally. They have sensors plugged in to monitor and track the user’s needs like health monitoring, financial information (although in small quantity but confidential), etc. They are also used in areas like education, music, finance and entertainment. Nevertheless, it brings along risks too. The effects of using this technology are seen when it shows limited capacity of working according to expectations. The interconnection of these devices with other controlling devices like user’s smartphone over wireless channels (Snader, 2016) or internet leads to substantial challenge of exposing data to unauthorized person or leaking personal data.
The paper discusses the vulnerabilities identified in wearable technology and the security challenges due to those vulnerabilities. It briefly discusses the issues related to the uses of those intelligent wearables and the risks involved in using them and finally concludes the flaw majorly responsible for these issues from the studied literature. The review concludes with a discussion on future research.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
Wearable IoT have broaden and improved the perspective of individuals about their surroundings. A successful IoT device has to be affordable as well as reliable. It should not interfere with other devices and should incorporate mechanisms to remain immune from interferences. It should further ensure effective battery life with perfect functionality and energy efficiency. However, the risks involved in attaining this ideal scenario are many.
IoT include a plethora of devices or things like vehicles, smartphones, televisions, wearable devices like fitness tracking devices, smartwatch and Google Glass, etc. These devices are embedded with software applications, sensors and other components for receiving and sending data. A colossus of connected devices is created by inter-connectivity of those devices. This connectivity offers magnificent benefits to people’s lives but it entails certain security and privacy concerns. The most conspicuous among them are the wearable devices which are gaining widespread acceptance among general population. Wearable IoT include smartwatches, smart glasses, fitness trackers to name a few. The wearable IoT devices offer convenience and great deal of comfort to the user. They sense, translate, collect and prepare data for transmission to remote storage in order to be processed. However, this technology has not entered the daily lives due to reasons of its reliability, limited functionality and feasibility. It entails certain security and privacy vulnerabilities and issues for which literature is reviewed in this paper. These security and privacy related issues are subject to device access, access to information shared by the device with other controlling or non-controlling devices and access to information stored in cloud by transmitting it from the IoT device. Research in recognizing potential privacy and security risks delve into the issue for analysis. However (Snader, 2016) states that the solutions identified for addressing these issues may hamper with the ability of the device to connect with its controlling device. Certain other constraints like power consumption and computation constraints lead to unencrypted and insecure data transmission.
2.1. VULNERABILITIES
The literature by Ching and Singh in (Ching, 2016) illustrates the utility of various wearable devices like fit bit, google glass and smart watch. (Lee, 2015) perceived and analyzed the risks for wearable IoT devices. A security analysis on real world examples revealed the vulnerabilities of wearables with regard to privacy and security. This includes photo bombing and scanning of malicious QR code thus unknowingly rendering access to malicious sources and websites or even recording of videos without consent using a wearable. Other wearable devices showed security vulnerabilities in terms of authentication as stated...