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While the global IoT market is growing, many experts shared concerns for 2023 due to cybersecurity risks and issues in the global economy.
Technology advancements continue to boost the internet of things (IoT) industry, which continues to grow despite economic issues.
It is estimated that the global IoT market will grow from $243bn this year to $575bn in 2027.
In October, the push for a global smart home standard was boosted with the launch of Matter 1.0. This standard aims to bring interoperability between smart home devices regardless of the brand or platform, and it has been backed by more than 280 companies including Google and Amazon.
Various experts have shared their predictions on the changes the sector could face next year. While some are hopeful, others predict a wave of issues as IoT enters a new phase.
Voluntary security standards
Cyberattacks have become a more common issue in recent years, as criminals exploit weaknesses in company supply chains. A recent PWC survey found that 88pc of Irish executives reported an increase in cyberattacks since 2020, due to the increased digital acceleration in their organisations.
Deral Heiland, principal security researcher at cybersecurity company Rapid7, believes IoT brand vendors will embrace “voluntary security standards” to grow brand trust and have an edge over their competitors.
“I also expect IoT vendors to work more closely with federal and state agencies in an effort to set those security standards for IoT technology,” Heiland said.
A rise in recalls
Heiland also predicts that new issues will appear as “smart digital technology and the physical world intersect”, which will cause an impact for the industry.
“I predict in 2023 that we will start seeing IoT devices with health and safety issues so problematic that vendors will be forced to do massive recalls similar like what we have seen in the auto industry,” Heiland said.
IoT will stutter
Despite the advances in IoT, research company Forrester believes that impacts on the global economy will cause an increase in smart products being abandoned.
The company predicts that economic headwinds will lead to “an additional 350m IoT bricks”, with fitness equipment and smart home devices being most affected.
“Economic headwinds will slow both consumer and industrial spending and IoT enterprises’ access to private capital,” the company said. “And if customers abandon these products, the consequence will be accelerated e-waste, posing a severe risk to environmental health.”
5G IoT will create new security risks
Cybersecurity focus provider Claroty believes that the rise of smart city projects will lead to the emergence of 5G IoT by the end of 2023. Despite the benefits of these new products, the company’s CRO Simon Chassar believes this will lead to new risks for consumers.
“This will present new challenges to organisations as these connected edge points will need their own version of security and monitoring tools,” Chassar said.
A rise in automated smart home attacks
IoT security risks were also highlighted by cybersecurity training company Immersive Labs. The company’s cyber threat research director Kev Breen expects 2023 to see an increase in “automated attacks against home smart devices at scale”, due to the rise in smart devices worldwide. This could particularly impact companies with remote working staff.
Breen noted, however, that the number of reported common vulnerabilities and exposures in 2022 was the lowest it has been since 2016, according to the US National Institute of Standards and Technology.
“It’s difficult to know if this number is trending downward due to software vendors getting stronger at identifying vulnerabilities at the source or if researchers have gotten busier this past year and haven’t been reporting on this as much,” Breen said.
“Either way, we know researchers and threat actors will continue to find, publish, and exploit new vulnerabilities.”
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