Securing the Internet of Things: A Meta-Study of Challenges, Approaches, and Open Problems

The Internet of Things (IoT) is becoming a key infrastructure for the development of smart ecosystems. However, the increased deployment of IoT devices with poor security has already rendered them increasingly vulnerable to cyber attacks. In some cases, they can be used as a tool for committing serious crimes. Although some researchers have already explored such issues in the IoT domain and provided solutions for them, there remains the need for a thorough analysis of the challenges, solutions, and open problems in this domain. In this paper, we consider this research gap and provide a systematic analysis of security issues of IoT-based systems. Then, we discuss certain existing research projects to resolve the security issues. Finally, we highlight a set of open problems and provide a detailed description for each. We posit that our systematic approach for understanding the nature and challenges in IoT security will motivate researchers to addressing and solving these problems.