Modelling an IoT testbed in context with the security vulnerabilities of South Africa

Abstract

Internet of Things (IoT) is envisaged as a transformative approach that provides any service over the Internet by enabling communications through the interconnection of heterogeneous devices. The potential threats and possible attacks against IoT devices have grown drastically and the cybercrime statistics from the South African Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC) shows that South Africans lose in excess of R2.2 billion due to the security vulnerabilities annually. Unfortunately, the security requirements are not yet well addressed as it is still in its infant stage. Therefore, before there is a widespread adoption of IoT, there needs to be stringent security and reliability in the IoT space. The proposed research aims to close this gap through the implementation of a user-centric and automated IoT testbed in context with a setting that is close to the real-world South African environment to address the specific IoT vulnerabilities in the country. Because of the limited amount of work performed so far in this field of study, this research will not only contribute in filling the missing gap in the area of IoT security vulnerabilities, but will also contribute towards a better understanding of the subject matter and uptake of the IoT technology.