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10 Ways Wearables Put Your Network in Serious Danger

By Sue Marquette Poremba, Posted September 11, 2015
  • 10 Ways Wearables Put Your Network in Serious Danger-

    Network Connections

    Wearable devices will generally need to be connected to a smartphone, tablet or computer. So they will be plugged into a corporate laptop or desktop through a USB port, as your phone is today, and thus could introduce viruses or malware into the company's system. This is a backdoor to the company's network via an employee's wrist or headwear, according to security professionals at INSIDE Secure. This gives hackers the chance to download private corporate information, remotely control the wearable, or allow unauthorized access into physical locations.

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10 Ways Wearables Put Your Network in Serious Danger

By Sue Marquette Poremba, Posted September 11, 2015
  • 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12
  • 10 Ways Wearables Put Your Network in Serious Danger-2

    Network Connections

    Wearable devices will generally need to be connected to a smartphone, tablet or computer. So they will be plugged into a corporate laptop or desktop through a USB port, as your phone is today, and thus could introduce viruses or malware into the company's system. This is a backdoor to the company's network via an employee's wrist or headwear, according to security professionals at INSIDE Secure. This gives hackers the chance to download private corporate information, remotely control the wearable, or allow unauthorized access into physical locations.

Wearable devices aren’t quite as ubiquitous as smartphones – at least not yet. IDC predicts that the wearables market is expected to grow at an annual rate of 45 percent between now and 2019. Fitness bands are the most popular wearables at the moment, but smart watches and other technologies are expected to increase over the next few years. We can expect wearables to play a large role in health care and sports training. Within the business setting, wearables can be used for authentication purposes or to assist in different hands-on or machine-based tasks, including interfacing with computers and other smart devices.

The growth of wearables, of course, means more devices connecting to the company network, increasing security risks. Users of wearables are already voicing concern that hackers want to steal the data generated and transmitted. But IT and security leaders need to be concerned, too. Sam Rehman, CTO of Arxan Technologies, stated:

Wearable devices may be putting many enterprise security professionals on their heels; they are the newest challenge in a BYOD workplace. These devices increase the attack surface and could become vulnerable targets that could allow unauthorized access to an enterprise's sensitive information. Defining tight enterprise security policies for the use of wearables and their access to corporate data is essential.

Let’s take a look at what security professionals think are the most serious weaknesses that wearable computing devices are introducing into networks.