Cloud Integration with IoT Systems: 3 Cybersecurity Checkpoints

The cloud and IoT offer greater transparency, automation and efficiency of systems, but the state of cloud security still does not guarantee a safe IoT network without additional checkpoint configuration.

One in three businesses has experienced a data breach in the last year. When integrating IoT systems with cloud security, you need the tools and features that can reduce both cyber threats and human error. Fortunately, cloud integration with IoT systems can make for a safer network.

In this article, we explore how the cloud can be integrated with IoT systems for enhanced security and what this means for your business.

Cloud data and IoT: A secure combination?

Ideally, we are all more secure with a properly integrated IoT network, operating with cloud cybersecurity checkpoints. The IoT allows us to connect monitors and sensors that relay data about systems, equipment, supply chains and products. This transparency is a must amid the supply chain challenges of pandemic times, offering safety by enabling predictive analytics and preventative maintenance.

In fact, the use of IoT devices has become instrumental in everything from retail to agriculture as businesses recognize the benefits of transparency across their processes. IoT has even been adopted in vertical cleanroom farming, where it is vital in maintaining ideal environmental conditions while minimizing resource utilization. The result for one California farm is two million pounds of lettuce per year grown with only 1% of the water a traditional farm would use.

Such efficiency offers security in production, outcomes and environmental protections, but still, the IoT is criticized for its limited digital safeguards. The IoT is a market that has been predominately focused on producing value rather than asking how innovations now might compromise networks in the future.

Now, cybersecurity is the top impediment to IoT deployment. Businesses need secure systems to protect customer data and their own interests, and a data breach could seriously impact IoT ROI.

Cybersecurity checkpoints as a solution

Companies see the necessity of both cloud data and IoT networks to support a competitive business in today’s data-driven economy. However, it can be difficult to see how these tools can co-exist while keeping data safe. With more than 900 million types of malware identified on the web, cybercriminals continue to innovate new methods of infiltrating systems. IoT, without safeguards, makes businesses a bigger target.

Fortunately, cybersecurity checkpoints present a solution to IoT threats on the cloud. These solutions can be integrated with cloud data storage and communication systems to produce a valuable, secure platform for all online operations.

These are just a few of the cybersecurity checkpoints that every IoT network needs when integrating with a cloud system:

End-to-end encryption

One of the best methods you can adopt across your IoT devices is to encrypt data at every point of travel. End-to-end encryption can be complicated to integrate without dedicated software and staff, however, such a system ensures that private data remains private even as it moves around a supply chain.

Blockchain’s similar ability to protect data through cryptographic links is making this system popular for more than just cryptocurrency. Some companies are even choosing to adopt blockchains for storing IoT data in protected, highly transparent links.

Multifactor authentication

Then, something as simple as multifactor authentication has become a major element of IoT cybersecurity that should extend across your entire cloud platform. This means more than just signing in with both a password and a texted code. It should be a core value of your cloud integration as one of the standards you set for IoT security.

That’s because multifactor authentication (MFA) reduces the risk of compromise only if it is applied across supply chains. All partners and suppliers should have to pass the same cybersecurity checkpoints and verify authorization. Then, with clear access controls, you can better secure a cloud network against the deluge of cybercrime.

Virtual LANs

One of the biggest problems with IoT device security is that these tools are often fully permissive in their communications with a network. This represents a huge challenge for a private network needing to authorize its users. Instead, businesses can separate their permissible devices on a private virtual LAN network that keeps sensor data private from the entire system.

A virtual LAN is like a room built to add privacy to a cloud platform. By integrating these in your deployment of IoT devices, you can better ensure data integrity behind an extra barrier. From here, you don’t have to worry about all those smart tech features like IoT thermostats, blinds and lighting compromising your personal data.

Checking security through end-to-end encryption, authentication and virtual LANs creates safety that can equate to money saved. By embracing these and other secure checkpoint features and technology, the risk of cyberattack falls significantly, no matter what other cloud solutions you have integrated.

Integrating cloud solutions for IoT systems

With an estimated 30 billion connected devices expected to be active by next year, businesses must prepare their cybersecurity approaches for the age of IoT. These sensors, monitors, cameras and more all enable highly beneficial business solutions that inform decision-making and streamline processes. However, without cybersecurity checkpoints, these devices might do more harm than good.

Integrate your cybersecurity protections with your cloud system using the best checks of the modern market. These include end-to-end encryption, multifactor authentication standards and virtual LAN networks where data can remain private.

Find cloud services that support these features or find ways to integrate them into your system. Cybersecurity checkpoints mean added safety, and an investment in this direction is almost sure to pay off.