Symantec securing 1 billion IoT devices

MUMBAI, INDIA: Symantec is securing more than one billion Internet of Things (IoT) devices including televisions, cars, smart meters and critical infrastructure.

The company’s IoT security solutions include authentication, device security, analytics and management to help prevent cars, medical devices, industrial control systems, and consumer electronics from being hacked, tracked and electronically hijacked.

For that Symantec is working with chip providers and cryptographic library partners including Texas Instruments and wolfSSL, to embed security at the hardware level. These partnerships combine Symantec’s Certificate Authority with the partner’s embeddable engines to create new Roots of Trust, the cornerstones for devices to safely encrypt and authenticate information.

To further fuel innovation in IoT security, Symantec recently announced a partnership with Frost Data Capital to incubate early-stage start-ups with funding, resources and expertise. Frost Data Capital underpins the incubator with seasoned entrepreneurs, proven innovation methodology and process, and deep expertise in big data analytics, IoT, industrials and healthcare.

Partner speak:

Wincor Nixdorf: It was important for Wincor Nixdorf to deliver the safest means for people carrying out financial transactions on ATMs.

Symantec's core security technology combined with Wincor Nixdorf’s domain knowledge has resulted in a solution that offers best-in-class security against software attacks on ATMs, said Karan Oberoi, Global Product Manager, Software Security, Wincor Nixdorf.

According to Gil Reiter, Director, Strategic Marketing, IoT, Texas Instruments (TI), “Providing secure, simple and seamless authentication requires embedding certificates in IoT products. To help customers secure cloud communications, TI currently embeds Symantec's root certificate in multiple IoT devices to digitally sign and authenticate Internet communication and firmware updates.”

He said in the future TI will offer new features capable of authenticated secure boot with digitally signed developer code.

Larry Stefonic, Founder and CEO, wolfSSL, said, “wolfSSL and Symantec address market needs through their combined solution to help developers secure against the three most fundamental security challenges in the IoT: Man in the Middle (MITM) attack, secure firmware updates and encrypting data on the device.”

“As IoT innovation and adoption continues to grow, so has the opportunity for new cyber security risks. This is the next frontier. In the automotive industry, hackers can literally steer the car and ‘hit the brakes’ from their keyboards,” said Shankar Somasundaram, Senior Director, Internet of Things Security, Symantec.

Future plans:

Symantec’s future plans include introducing new technologies such as an IoT portal for managing all IoT security from a single interface, and security analytics for proactively detecting anomalies that might indicate stealthy attacks on IoT networks.