IoT interoperability: Security considerations and challenges in implementation

The Internet of Things (IoT) has been heralded as a technology that has the capacity to revolutionise the way that we live impacting on the way we work, socialise, travel and communicate. New IoT-based systems are being proposed in sectors ranging from transport to health, from manufacturing to entertainment to our interactions with government. To realise the full benefit of IoT, it is imperative that the infrastructure we depend upon is adequate to deliver the services envisioned and has the necessary resilience, robustness and security. The infrastructure industry is itself attempting to ensure that, in delivering advanced infrastructure, it operates in a smarter, more technologically-supported and information-driven manner. To underpin and support a co-ordinated strategy for smarter infrastructure development, there are a number of important and useful guidelines, best practices and standards that are being developed. However, the alignment of these approaches is not always optimal, and as such interoperability presents a significant challenge. This paper examines the landscape of standards and guidance, the security challenges presented and the difficulty in ensuring compliance. The paper considers the issues faced in implementation and proposes recommendations for interoperability in IoT.