Real IoT: How Leading Innovators Achieve Meaningful Business Results

Industrial IoT, IoT Security

Article | July 11, 2023

Artificial intelligence (AI) has already made headway into becoming a general-purpose technology vastly impacting economies. Yet, the interpretation and estimated trajectory for something remotely close to what we call AI now was first explored in the 1950s. Until this very day, AI keeps on evolving further. Though let’s face it, AI would have been useless without data. With around 2.5 quintillion bytes of data being generated every day, the numbers will shoot up as the Internet of Things (IoT) enters the game. Let’s see what this is all about and where and how exactly IoT crosses paths with AI applications. IoT fundamentals: Where does IoT meet AI The benefits of IoT in AI Challenges of IoT in AI Why implement machine learning in IoT IoT applications for AI Key takeaways IoT fundamentals: Where does IoT meet AI? What is meant by the term internet of things (IoT) is essentially a system of correlated digital and mechanical appliances, computing devices, and sensors embedded often into everyday objects that transfer data over a network. IoT connects the internet to any and every physical thing or place in the world. Modern IoT has advanced from the mere merging of microelectromechanical systems to wireless technologies, and faster data transfer through the internet. This resulted in a confluence of information technology and artificial intelligence, allowing unstructured machine-generated data to be evaluated for insights that could lead to new developments. More and more industries are now referring to IoT to function more proficiently, provide better customer service, escalate the significance of their business, and implement robust decision-making. Machine learning for IoT can be used to identify anomalies, predict emerging trends, and expand intelligence through the consumption of audio, videos, and images. The implication of machine learning in IoT can substitute manual processes and offer automated systems using statistically backed up actions in critical processes. The benefits of IoT in AI and real life IoT offers the following benefits to AI applications: IoT data for business purposes Cost and time savings Task automation and reduction of human intervention Higher quality of life IoT data for business purposes IoT can also be viewed as a data pool. That means by aggregating IoT data, one can extract useful data-driven feedback, which in turn (used properly) may foster effective decision-making. Businesses can also identify new market opportunities, not because of IoT itself but by using the data IoT provides. And since IoT offers companies access to more data, and hence advanced analytics of that data, its usage can eventually result in improved customer outcomes and enhanced service delivery. Cost and time savings When devices get connected, cost reductions come along with it. The gathering of different data allows for advances in efficiency, and it leads to money surplus and low-cost materials. Task automation and reduction of human intervention Nowadays, devices that are internet-connected can be found in every aspect of our lives, and it is safe to say that they make tasks easier. These automation features range from real-time AI-powered chatbots to home automation control systems, and all of it usually takes a click of a button. For businesses offering AI-enabled solutions, similar advancements can be achieved with pipeline automation too. That includes significant cuts in annotation and QA time. By leveraging SuperAnnotate’s platform, hundreds of companies recorded faster task completion and more accuracy in prediction results. Higher quality of life IoT is not only beneficial in the business aspects but it also creates better living circumstances for us. Smart cities and agriculture, intelligent homes, and food waste solutions are some of the most common ways of IoT providing better, more sustainable living conditions for people. Challenges of IoT in AI Despite the numerous benefits and advancements that IoT brings to the table, there have been a few limitations with it. Some of them are listed below: Privacy issues Data overflow Bug issues Compatibility issues Privacy issues With the increased connection between multiple devices or their coexistence for model development purposes, more information is shared between them, which poses vulnerability to your data and makes room for caution. Added layers of protection are needed to prevent risks of data leaks and other threats. Data overflow Eventually, organizations will have to find a way to deal with the large numbers of IoT devices, and that will include the collection and systematic management of all the data from those IoT devices. The proper use of data lakes and warehouses, close governance, and intuitive arrangement of datasets will become an utmost priority. Join hundreds of leading companies who build super high-quality training data up to 5x faster using SuperAnnotate’s intuitive data curation and robust project management features. Bug issues If one IoT device has a bug in its system, there is a large chance that every other connected device will also have it. Compatibility issues Because there are no international standards of compatibility for IoT, it's harder for different devices to communicate with one another. Why implement machine learning in IoT More and more companies are combining IoT with machine learning projects so they can achieve analytical skills on a large variety of use cases which allows their businesses to have access to fresh insights and adopt innovative automation. By implementing machine learning for IoT, they can leverage the following: Convert data into a coherent format Arrange the machine learning model on device, edge, and cloud Enable use of data on edge devices directly for complex decision making IoT applications for AI Although we have covered the basics of IoT, its implications for AI are not as simple. Many corporations are adopting IoT which allows them to have an advanced approach to growing and advancing their business. Novel IoT applications are offering organizations the ability to plan and implement more vigorous risk management strategies. Some of the more common uses of IoT in AI encompass the following: Transport logistics Not only does IoT expand the material flow systems in transport logistics, but it also improves the automatic identification and global positioning of freight. It also increases energy efficiency and consequently declines the consumption of energy. Smart cities Although the term smart city is still incomplete, it mainly refers to an urban area that endorses sustainable enlargement and high quality of life. Giffinger et al.’s model explains the features of a smart city, including the people, the government, the economy, and lifestyle. E-health control The two main objectives of future health care are e-health control and prevention. People nowadays can choose to be monitored by physicians even if they do not live in the same country or place. Tracing and monitoring peoples’ health history makes IoT-assisted e-health extremely useful. IoT healthcare solutions could also benefit the specialists, as they can collect information to advance their medical calculations. Key takeaways Ever since its development, IoT, especially AI-enabled IoT, as discussed, has been enhancing our daily lives and directing us to work smarter while having complete control over the process. Besides having smart appliances to elevate homes, IoT devices can also be essential for providing insights and an actual look for businesses into their systems. Heading forward, IoT will continue to develop as more organizations get to understand its potential usage and tangible benefits.

Enterprise Iot

Article | May 11, 2023

Explore the IoT tools for security and maintenance. These IoT monitoring tools addresses cyber security and privacy issues, catering to a various users including industrialists & individuals. With the proliferation of interconnected devices in the Internet of Things ecosystem, ensuring robust security measures has become crucial to protect against cyber threats. The complexity and diversity of IoT systems pose unique challenges, making thorough security testing an essential practice. To address these challenges, various IoT development tools have emerged that enable organizations to assess and mitigate vulnerabilities in their IoT deployments. In this article, explore the top ten tools to secure IoT and IoT testing, equipping professionals and organizations with the means to identify and address potential security weaknesses, thus bolstering the overall security posture of their IoT infrastructure. 1. AWS IoT Device Defender AWS IoT Device Defender is one of the security IoT management tools, designed to protect and manage IoT devices and fleets. Its auditing capabilities and continuous monitoring enable users to assess their IoT resources' security posture, identify vulnerabilities, and address potential gaps. By leveraging machine learning models or defining custom device behaviors, it can monitor and detect malicious activities, such as traffic from suspicious IP addresses or unusual connection attempts. The tool provides security alerts for failed audits or behavior anomalies, allowing users to mitigate potential risks quickly. Built-in actions facilitate security issue resolution, including device certificate updates, quarantine, and policy replacements. AWS IoT Device Defender offers automation for security assessments, identification of attack vectors, analysis of historical device behavior, and alarm notifications through various AWS interfaces. 2. Dynamic Application Security Testing Appknox offers two robust mobile application security solutions: Automated Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) and Penetration Testing (PT). With Automated DAST, users can assess the security of their mobile apps in real time while running in their operational environment. The solution provides access to real devices, allowing users to replicate real-life interactions and identify security vulnerabilities. On the other hand, Appknox's Penetration Testing solution delivers reliable and thorough security assessments by expert security researchers. Users can request a manual pentest effortlessly, and the skilled team analyzes apps to identify and eliminate potential threats. The process includes identifying the tech stack, analyzing the threat landscape, setting up breakpoints, testing responses, detecting bugs, and performing advanced threat exploits. 3. Enterprise IoT Security Enterprise IoT Security is a comprehensive Zero Trust solution designed to address IoT devices' security challenges in modern enterprises. It helps eliminate implicit trust and enforces zero-trust principles through least privilege access, continuous trust verification, and continuous security inspection. With this solution, organizations can quickly discover and assess every IoT device, easily segment and enforce the least privileged access, and protect against known and unknown threats. By simplifying operations, Enterprise IoT Security enables faster deployment, with a 15-time faster deployment than other solutions. The solution offers better and faster protection for IoT devices, delivering 70 times more security efficiency and 20 times speedier policy creation. 4. Azure Sphere Azure Sphere is a secure IoT platform offered by Microsoft that allows businesses to create, connect, and maintain intelligent IoT devices. It provides end-to-end security, from the silicon level to the operating system (OS) to the cloud. With Azure Sphere, organizations can securely connect, manage, and protect existing and new IoT devices. The platform offers over-the-air updates, integration with IoT platform services, and continuous security improvements. It helps businesses deploy real-time security patches, maintain device operations, and accelerate time to market. Azure Sphere incorporates essential security properties and offers comprehensive security and compliance. 5. Microsoft Defender for IoT Microsoft Defender for IoT is a comprehensive security solution that provides real-time asset discovery, vulnerability management, and threat protection for the Internet of Things and industrial infrastructure, including ICS/OT environments. It offers context-aware visibility into IoT and OT assets, enabling organizations to manage their security posture and reduce attack surfaces based on risk prioritization. With behavioral analytics, it detects and responds to attacks across IT and OT networks. Integrated with SIEM/SOAR and XDR tools, it delivers unified security and leverages threat intelligence for automatic response. Microsoft Defender for IoT is designed to meet the unique security needs of various industries and supports complete endpoint protection when combined with Defender for Endpoint. 6. IoT Security Forescout offers an IoT security solution that automates security measures and provides visibility for every device connected to the network. Their zero-trust approach ensures complete device visibility, proactive network segmentation, and least-privilege access control for IoT, OT, IoMT, and IT devices. The platform classifies and monitors devices in real time, identifies weak credentials, and enforces strong passwords. It also enables dynamic network segmentation and automates zero trust policy orchestration across multi-vendor environments. Forescout's solution efficiently manages asset inventory and device lifecycle and has been proven to scale for enterprise-level deployments. 7. ThingSpace The ThingSpace Platform for IoT offers a comprehensive set of iot tools and devices for developing and managing the lifecycle of IoT devices. It enables connectivity management at scale, allowing secure activation on the Verizon network and providing features to troubleshoot, locate, and manage IoT devices. Whether at the prototype stage or ready to scale for enterprise-level deployment, ThingSpace provides the necessary resources for IoT solution development and management. As a Magic Quadrant Leader for IoT Connectivity Services, ThingSpace offers solutions for software management, device readiness, and overall device lifecycle management. Businesses can collaborate with technology leaders through their Executive Briefing Program to achieve their specific goals and gain a competitive edge. 8. Verimatrix The Verimatrix Secure Delivery Platform offers a unified user experience by combining cybersecurity and anti-piracy services into a comprehensive cloud ecosystem. It provides media companies, content owners, streaming providers, and broadcast operators with a single pane of glass experience for securing content, applications, and devices. Key offerings include Streamkeeper Multi-DRM for cloud-based digital rights management, Verimatrix App Shield for zero code hardening of mobile applications, Verimatrix Video Content Authority System (VCAS) for real-time monitoring, and Streamkeeper Counterspy for cybersecurity and anti-piracy solutions. The platform also facilitates partner integrations, enabling seamless onboarding and revenue preservation. 9. Trustwave Trustwave's Managed IoT Security provides comprehensive solutions to secure the Internet of Things (IoT) and minimize the risk of compromise. With expertise from Trustwave SpiderLabs, it offers knowledge about network assets, identifies weaknesses in applications, servers, APIs, and cloud clusters, and enables secure IoT deployment with quick validation of fixes. This reduces the risk of compromised devices, which can lead to various threats, including DoS attacks, privacy violations, and data theft. Trustwave's services cater to IoT developers/manufacturers, offering product security reviews, testing, and incident readiness services. For IoT implementers, it provides managed security services and testing to safeguard deployments and associated data. 10. ARMIS Agentless Device Security Platform The ARMIS Agentless Device Security Platform supports implementing the Critical Security Controls(CIS) framework. Developed by the Center for Internet Security (CIS), these controls are periodically updated by a global community of experts. ARMIS aligns with the CIS Controls and provides a comprehensive set of security controls to address the framework's requirements. The platform caters to enterprises of all sizes and offers different implementation groups based on risk profile and available resources. With ARMIS, organizations can enhance their cybersecurity posture and implement the CIS Controls effectively. Final Thoughts Security is a major concern in IoT tools and software due to the proliferation of connected devices, the diverse and complex nature of IoT ecosystems, the need to protect data privacy and confidentiality, the lack of standardization, the long lifecycles of devices, and the distributed and scalable nature of IoT deployments. Addressing these concerns is crucial to prevent unauthorized access, data breaches, and ensure the integrity and privacy of IoT data. The IoT tools and technologies discussed in this article represent some of the top options for conducting comprehensive IoT security testing. By leveraging these tools, professionals and organizations can proactively identify and address vulnerabilities in their IoT systems, ensuring their data and devices' confidentiality, integrity, and availability. By incorporating these tools into their security practices, organizations can bolster their IoT security strategy and enhance their ability to protect against emerging threats in the dynamic IoT landscape.

Industrial IoT, IoT Security

Article | July 12, 2023

The evolution of internet-based market models has changed the way businesses operate. Present-day businesses know that data visualization in business intelligence is integral to competitive success. Therefore, businesses are now expanding their data and intelligence retrieval capacities. As a result, IoT (Internet of Things) data visualization is gaining popularity among industrialists and researchers across various disciplines. In corporate finance, IoT-based efficient data visualization analyses data from multiple sources with the help of corporate analytics management tools and manages data quality for business intelligence to reduce the risk of leaks. Impact of IoT Data Visualization on Corporate Finance BI Data is everywhere— right from a customer's first visit to your company’s website until he signs out, all the behavioral patterns and data are tracked. All this data becomes useless unless it is utilized for a particular purpose. Analyzing this data to predict future trends is one of the significant benefits of smart data visualization tools and technologies. It helps to slice and dice the data gained from different sources of different complexity levels to the minute granular level. Business intelligence utilizes these insights and the existing database to run risk analysis. It gives an overview of your financial performance and the risks and exposures it faces. And if you switch the KPIs at the center of any dashboard, your entire team can instantly access the most important and relevant data. IoT data visualization can measure big data on customers more efficiently, allowing organizations to add value to their customers. Customized tools will analyze your customers’ data and produce reports according to specific customer needs to help you get a deeper insight. Corporations can also utilize this data to better understand their competitors’ benchmarks. Customizable IoT Data to Store Millions of Data Points in One Place IoT collects millions of data from various complex sources. The data visualization dashboard contains multiple widgets that convert this data into various forms, such as line graphs, geographical maps, bar charts, pie charts, gauges, heat maps, etc. This information, transmitted into multiple visualizations, helps organizations to unlock every piece of data into a valuable asset. The Benefits of Using IoT Data Visualization Businesses can collect, analyze and monitor a variety of data using IoT, such as internet usage data, video surveillance data, mobile app usage, and social media. It helps businesses to design products and provide personalized value-added services to drive better consumer engagement. Here are some key benefits IoT data visualization offers: Unlock multiple insights across various verticals Addressing important financial concerns proactively Combination of multiple data sources into a single insightful dashboard Multi-layered visual data. Combines new data with the existing data to analyze new business opportunities. Better performance on IoT data flow. Analyze multiple data correlations in real-time Improved Collaboration Well-coordinated and efficient performance. Cost reduction Accurate data interpretation Mitigate risk factor Better decision making Conclusion Hands down, IoT data visualization intelligence in a company’s business operations will lead to better decision-making. But, before you choose an IoT data visualization tool for your business, you should know what kind of data you need to analyze and if you need any additional historical data. Because IoT services offer data visualization tools and techniques to analyze and monitor the data accordingly to predict future trends. So, it’s important to identify the goals before selecting a tool for your organization.

Article | April 27, 2020

Manufacturing industry or the Industrial Internet of Things has been one of the driving verticals for development of 5G technologies. Wide 5G deployement for Industrial IoT has long been in the pipeline but we might expect it to be a reality very soon. The true success of 5G depends on the verticals as trends suggest that that Industrial IoT alone will triple the number of needed base stations globally. And many verticals will need efficient wireless connectivity to become successful. 5G has features that are specifically designed to address the needs of vertical sectors, such as network slicing and URLLC. The ultra-reliable low latency communications and massive machine type communications required by the IIoT will soon be realized. Table of Contents: How Will 5G Impact Industrial IoT? 5G Accelerations for IIoT Industrial 5G How Will 5G Benefit Industrial IoT? IoT is a B2B application and users just want to get actionable data from their sensors and not worry about whether it’s old data or unreliable data. I think 5G changes this dynamic significantly over the long term by standardizing and simplifying the experience and interactions, and possibly engaging more of the industry to help solve IoT’s problems but also improve the total experience. - Anshel Sag, analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy • Data-Transfer Speeds Any IoT is said to be commercially successful depending on how fast it can set up communications with other IoT devices, software based websites or applications, phones, and tablets. 5G promises exactly all of this with significant increase in transfer speeds. 5G is 10x faster than its LTE counterparts and allows IoT devices to communicate and share data faster than ever. All IoT devices will benefit from the faster speed of 5G with reduced lag and improved sending and receiving of data and notifications between connected devices. • Greater Network Reliability 5G networks also offer more reliable and stable connection which is extremely important for any IoT including devices like locks, security cameras and monitoring systems that depend on real-time updates. With reliable connectivity consumers will be the greater beneficiary. It is however, imperative for manufactures to trust and invest in 5G compatible devices to reap the benefits of high-speed connectivity, very low latency, and a greater coverage that will arrive with the next generation network. READ MORE:How Will the Emergence of 5G Affect Federated Learning? 5G Accelerations for IIoT • Diversity in Industrial IoT The opportunities that industrial IoT bring with is varied and its used cases span the spectrum from indoor to outdoor, less demanding to mission-critical, data rate from dozens of bps to gbps, device motion from fixed to mobility, and power source from button battery to high voltage. Predictive maintenance, smart metering, asset tracking, and fleet management are some of the commonly known opportunities for IIoT, which be extended further by 5G through continued diversity and expansion. • 5G Inspires Untapped Frontiers Industrial IoT application areas such as mobile robot control in production automation and autonomous vehicles in open pit mining require wide mobility, low latency and mission-critical reliability. They rely on wireless access at 50ms to 1ms latency and service reliability from 5 nines to 6 nines. Though 4G/LTE has attempted to address these areas of IIoT application it has failed due to unsatisfactory performance. With ultra-reliable and low latency connection, 5G will take industrial IoT to unconquered spaces. • Managing the Enterprise 5G Network Typically, enterprise IT is responding to the business demand from Operational Technology (OT) and mandates security, integration, visibility, control, and compatibility. In this scenario, 5G is not about “what,” but about “how”. IT needs to consider the right approach to bring 5G to the enterprise and decide whether to co-manage with the service provider (SP) or self-manage. The experience of IT in managing Industrial Ethernet and Wi-Fi may not hold when it comes to 5G. IT will likely require OT’s partnership to address complexity, security, integration, and other new challenges that 5G presents. Industrial 5G The potential for industrial 5G huge as it enables whole new business models. Industrial IoT has a core requirement of the ability to connect sensors, devices, software applications, production process, workers and consumers. The connectivity requires to be seamless vertical and horizontal integrations of all layers of automation pyramids that increases operational efficiency of the plant floor and the supply chain by optimal use of data, information and analytics. This can be improved by five key elements: • Improved Connectivity • Availability • Low Latency • Flexibility • Speed Industrial 5G will impact these areas of the manufacturing industry to guide the success of Industrial IoT. Industrial 5G will play a key role in helping industrial users achieve the goals of Industrial IoT. 5G offers wireless communications services with reduced latency, increased connection density, and improved flexibility compared to the current 4G generation. 5G technology has a theoretical downlink peak speed of 20 Gbps (gigabits per second), which is about 20 times faster than the current generation. The key is to start building IoT devices with broadly adopted operating systems, built-in security all the way down to the silicon, verifiable and updatable firmware, and mainstream application development tooling. - Anshel Sag, analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy The push and pull in achieving 5G success in IoT will be there until technology providers and end users work together to set up a consensus on standardization. The success will also depend on best-of-breed approach allowing the introduction of new technology over the lifecycle. Software and system integration will also be important attributes to a successful 5G deployment. READ MORE:How Will IoT Revolutionize Pharmaceutical Manufacturing?