Weaknesses And Strengths Of Internet Of Things

Introduction

Internet of Things solely known as IoT, is a network of items which enables objects to interchange data between them. This is the 21st century. Everyday new innovations are being introduced and everyone is searching for some networks and ease that makes their life and work convenient in day to day life. According to (Mitchell, 2018), Internet of Things represents a concept for the ability of network devices to sense and accumulate data from every possible corner of the world. They figure out where the data can be utilized and they allocate them across the Internet around the world.

It is not only about connecting devices into a network. The core part of IoT is its ability to set a self-calibration mode that implements certain action when the specific requirement is met (Kitowska, 2019). (McClelland, 2017) defines IoT as a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and digital machines, objects, animals or people that are assigned with unique identifiers and have the ability for data to be transferred over a network without the requirement of any human-to-human or human-to-computer connection.

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Description

How does it work?

Many IoT devices and smartphones are closely related as they are simply run by apps on the smartphones. Smartphones play an important role in Internet of Things. IoT devices consist of sensors and mini-computer processors that proceed on with the data accumulated through the sensors via machine learning. IoT devices are considered as the mini computers which are connected to the internet which is true as these devices are prone to get affected from malware and hacking because of the growing technology like the computers do.

When computers perceive data in a similar way to humans, as in, they accumulate various data from the surrounding and present those data to the IoT devices, it is machine learning. This data can help the machines learn our likings and adjust itself according to it. Machine learning, it is one kind of an artificial intelligence. Machine learning generally assists computers to learn without having to get programmed by anyone. It doesn’t mean that the smart speaker we own will discuss the highlights of last night’s big game with us. Instead we may be sent an alert by our connected refrigerator on our smartphone that we’re low on eggs and milk because it knows we’re near a supermarket (Nadia Kovacs, 2019).

Why is it required?

Only because something can be connected to the internet doesn't mean it should be, but each device that has connection collects data for a particular motive that may be useful to a buyer. That may affect the broader economy in many ways. (Burgess, 2018)

The sensors we talk about on product lines can speed up the efficiency of performing tasks and they can lower down the waste within the industrial applications. 35 per cent of US manufacturers are already using data from smart sensors within their set-ups according to a study. A device has been created by US firm Concrete Sensors that can be inserted into concrete to provide data on the material's condition. (Burgess, 2018)

IoT renders us the opportunity to get efficient in how we are doing things, helping us to save time, money and also emissions in the process. It allows companies, governments and public authorities to re-think and review the way they are providing services and manufacture goods so that they can improve their ways for the betterment. An opportunity for much more contextualised and responsive interactions is initiated with the scope of information across the Internet of Things with the devices that have the potential for bringing some greater changes. (Burgess, 2018)

What are its weaknesses and strengths?

There is no international standard of accordant for the tagging and monitoring of equipments. This disadvantage is the one of the easiest ones to get over with. But there are more opportunities of failure with all the complex systems of IoT. Failures could sky rocket even if a small part of it goes down. For instance, both you and your spouse receive a message that tells your milk has expired because of which you stop by a store on your way home to buy milk. As a result, you both buy it. You and your spouse have purchased twice the amount that you both need. Not only it, maybe a bug in the software ends up ordering a new ink cartridge automatically for your printer each and every hour for some days, or after each power failure, when in reality you only need one replacement.

Along with it, the risk of losing privacy increases with all this IoT data being transmitted. Imagine if a notorious hacker changes all of your personal data, maybe financial data too which is extremely dangerous. Or if a shop sends you a product that you are allergic to, or a product that has already expired. This leads to tell us that safety is ultimately in the hands of the consumer to confirm all automation. (Quek, 2017)

Internet of Things have numerous weaknesses that may take a lot of our time and effort to overcome and in some cases, impossible to overcome, yet has its own positive sides when used effectively and if we don’t misuse the IoT devices. At the same time, the internet of things offers a number of benefits to organizations, enabling them to:

· Control the overall business operations

· Boost the customer experience

· Preserve both time and money

· Inflate the productivity of employees

· Incorporate and tailor business models

· Formulate superior business decisions

· Foster more revenue

IoT instigates companies and organizations to re-think the ways they apply to draw on their businesses, industries and markets and provides them with the tools to enhance their business tactics. (Rouse, 2019)

How it is being used by businesses?

There are multiple number of real-world applications of the Internet of Things, from consumer IoT and enterprise IoT to manufacturing and industrial IoT (IIoT). IoT applications span number of verticals, from automotive to telco, energy and more. (Rouse, 2019)

Consumer service provides market intelligence on the ever growing ecosystem of connected consumer, devices as well as the growing smart assistant platform category. The research program commends a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the enabling technologies, protocols, devices, and vendors that contend in the consumer IoT market. It investigates demand-side viewpoints on consumer attitudes towards usage of internet-enabled products and service to provide the consumers with the best services possible. It also provides deeper view into vendor strategies, market positioning, and future developments to improve the consumer service. (Wright, 2019)

Infrastructure can be used as a covering term for manufacturing, construction, building and home, energy management and more. Huge scale implementation can be seen in this process. IoT has helped a lot in monitoring operations. It has monitored for urban and rural construction projects such as railway tracks and bridges. Its implementation in the manufacturing sector has been helpful with the integration of devices that allows sound control and better management of things. Sensing, identification, communication and processing devices are the key features of these types of devices and most importantly, they are extremely helpful in meeting demands of the businesses. They assist in achieving real-time optimization by the help of supply chain. (Carla, 2018)

Businesses have organized different kinds of campaigns in the corporate setting successfully to reach common business goals. There are certain huge goals to be fulfilled which requires an entire team and IoT can be a great help. The IoT apps have been designed and they are dedicated for specific purposes which have enabled businesses to lower down the workflow and release employees from performing repetitive works. IoT application development companies have been raised in various ways by use of different IoT applications. With the proper use of these kind of applications, with no doubt, businesses can flourish really well and the goals can also be met at the same time. It is also up to consumers who are directly or indirectly related to businesses to decide about what’s important on how they are perceiving data. (Carla, 2018)

Ethical Issues

The internet of things associates with billions of devices connected to the internet. There is the use of data to the point which need to be extremely secured. IoT security and IoT privacy are considered as the major concerns due to the high risk of getting attacked.

Mirai, one of the most notorious attacks was a botnet that penetrated domain name server provider Dyn and took down many websites for an extended period of time in one of the biggest distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. Attackers got access to the network by getting into poorly secured IoT devices. Because IoT devices are closely connected, all a hacker has to do is exploit one’s vulnerability to control all the data. Manufacturers that don't update their device on a regular basis or not at all are simply leaving them to become vulnerable to criminals which leads to these kinds of activities.

We being the users are often asked by the connected devices to enter all of the personal information and sometimes even social media accounts. They are the information that's invaluable to hackers but they still ask so that they can exploit them in a negative way. However, hackers aren't the only danger to the IoT. Privacy is another great issue for the users. For example, companies that distribute consumer IoT devices could be a danger for us. They could be using those devices to sell users' personal data by acquiring them. This makes us think while we purchase anything because we have been vulnerable since IoT has been discovered. IoT also is a threat to infrastructures includng electricity, transportation, education, health and mainly financial services. (Rouse, 2019)

Conclusion

The Internet of Things is such a concept that will have an enormous impact on the whole world. We will sooner or later reach to a point where almost everything we use or consume is connected to the internet directly or indirectly. It is such a thing that will only grow as the technology accelerates. This is going to be very useful and can be used to improve the lives of individuals all across the world but at the same time, because of its weaknesses, many lives can be in danger. Seeing its brighter side, people will be healthier as they will be able to control their vitals and eating habits, as well as be safer as they can make their home safe and secure from predators. But we can’t be sure of the hackers as they will only grow as technology improves. It will also be used to benefit businesses all around the world by making their strategies effective but at the same time threats keep on increasing because the ones who don’t want our business to grow might be trying to bring our business down by the use of vast IoT devices. There is no uncertainty that the advantages of the IoT will outweigh the disadvantages but we definitely need to be aware and only use IoT for the well-being and also encourage others to use it effectively.