Securing Internet of Things: Attacks, Countermeasures and Open Challenges

Internet of Things (IoT) has recently become a reality that brings forth significant improvements to various aspects of citizens’ life, such as transport, health, economics and commerce. IoTs are connecting various microcontroller-based individual devices called “Things” that are capable of transmitting and receiving information. Generally, these devices are resource-constrained in terms of resources, memory and power. Despite its widespread adoption, the security and privacy concerns of things remain a crucial challenge that needs to be addressed. This is because the current IoT frameworks do not effectively handle the high-security requirements posed by various applications. This paper aims to highlight the reasons for security challenges in IoT and survey the most prevalent security threats and attacks that can be launched in an IoT ecosystem. Further, the paper discusses various existing proposed countermeasures against these attacks. Finally, the paper identifies several open issues and challenges that can serve as future research directions in the field of study.