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Why are IoT Devices Considered more threat-prone than Conventional Electronic Devices?

IoT devices aren’t like conventional electronic devices, say laptops and smartphones that have built-in security functions. IoT devices are of myriad types and may use many different, non-standard software and vendor-oriented technologies that make implementing security measures in them challenging. Some devices might transmit data in its unencrypted form, making it easy for hackers to launch their attacks.

Security lapses in IoT devices could occur at any stage – during manufacture, introduction into the network, or software updates. These lapses open portals for hackers to smuggle in malware and corrupt the device. Since the devices are all connected over the internet (by Wi-Fi, Zigbee, etc), an anomaly in one device could compromise the entire network and cause other devices to malfunction as well. The repercussions could go as far as to affect the core network infrastructure and bring it down.

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