This is Part 2 of a three part series that addresses the need for a systems
engineering approach to IoT and cloud network design. Part 1 is Networking the Cloud for IoT - Pt. 1: IoT and the Government.)
IoT: Unprecedented Stress on the Cloud and It’s Underlying Network
Karen Field, Penton Communications’ IoT Institute director, in her article “Start Small to Gain Big,”
postulated an oil drilling platform with 30,000 sensors would generate about 1
Terabyte of data per day. She also stressed that only 1% of that data would
likely be used. From a systems engineering point of view this data flow is
multiplied by the trillions of other IoT sensors in the cloud, introducing
unprecedented data processing and data transport stress. Industries and
competing companies within those industries will also be forced to weigh the
economic impact of paying for this transport and processing.
How will these parochial and
business-centered decisions drive networking priorities across the cloud? Will
all of the high-priority data get through? Will any data be lost? How will you
know? If a piezo-electric sensor detects a crack in the drill pipe, will you
get the notification, or will it get out-prioritized by the ambient air
temperature reading that you get every 10 minutes? Every day, data gets delayed
through the Internet and the results are not catastrophic. Tomorrow, though, a
stock trade “trigger” could be delayed costing billions. Key economic
indicators could be lost that could trigger large economic movements. As with
today’s Internet, tomorrow’s IoT will need to ensure that the RIGHT data gets
to its destination in a timely fashion.
Securing the IoT
Programming Research, in their white paper, “How IoT isMaking Security Imperative for all Embedded Software,” recommended that
software developers should take a more careful approach to releasing new IoT
products, “Security problems often stem from the need to accelerate development
and bring new products to market ahead of the competition. A majority of security vulnerabilities are a
result of coding errors that go undetected in the development stage. CarnegieMellon’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT), in fact, found that 64% of
vulnerabilities in the CERT National Vulnerability Database were the result of
programming errors.” The research firm also believes that
software development organizations should incorporate coding standards such as
CERT C and utilize the Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE)
database. Companies like Programming
Research, Critical Software, or Jama Software offer tools to assist with static
analysis of code against these standards.
Luckily, an increasing number of organizations are making adherence to
these guidelines and standards a requirement for both internal development
organizations and outsourced application development vendors.
Figure 1, from the TASC Institute “Peer
Review” course, illustrates that software defects, although they are “facts of
work” act like mines in a minefield.
Typical “Code and Test” methodologies effectively just clear a path
through the minefield. System overload,
operator error, or race conditions could force the system off of the “cleared
path” and into unexplored territory. This “unexplored territory” has, until
recently, been the very place that commercial vendors installed their “back
doors,” to enable the vendor to perform maintenance, collect metrics, or verify
that the software is an authorized copy.
Commercial software vendors are now cracking down on these features
because they represent security vulnerabilities that could be easily exploited
by a hacker.
Figure 1: Defect Detection
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Dwight Bues, of Engility Corp., is a Georgia
Tech Computer Engineer with 30+ years' experience in computer hardware,
software, and systems and interface design. He has worked in Power Generation, Communications, RF, Command/Control,
and Test Systems. Dwight is a Certified Scrum Master and teaches courses in
Architecture, Requirements, and IVV&T. He is also a certified Boating
Safety instructor with the Commonwealth of Virginia and the United States Power
Squadrons. He is currently working several STEM projects, sponsoring teams for
competitions in the Aerospace Industries Association’s (AIA) Team America
Rocketry Challenge (TARC) and the Robotics Education and Competition Foundation’s,
Vex Skyrise Robotics Challenge.
Kevin L. Jackson is a globally recognized
cloud computing expert, a cloud computing and cybersecurity Thought Leader for
Dell and IBM and Founder/Author of the award winning “Cloud Musings” blog. Mr.
Jackson has also been recognized as a “Top 100 Cybersecurity Influencer and
Brand” by Onalytica (2015), a Huffington Post “Top 100 Cloud Computing Experts
on Twitter” (2013), a “Top 50 Cloud Computing Blogger for IT Integrators” by
CRN (2015) and a “Top 5 Must Read Cloud Blog” by BMC Software (2015). His first
book, “GovCloud: Cloud Computing for the Business of Government” was published
by Government Training Inc. and released in March 2011. His next publication,
“Practical Cloud Security: A Cross Industry View”, will be released by Taylor
& Francis in the spring of 2016
( This content is being syndicated through multiple channels. The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not represent the views of GovCloud Network, GovCloud Network Partners or any other corporation or organization.)
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