Intrusiot

Intrusiot is a term used in information security to describe the study of intrusion-related phenomena within Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystems. It is a portmanteau of intrusion and IoT and is not an official standard, but it is used in academic and industry discussions to frame the challenges of unauthorized access, abuse of devices, and related security incidents in interconnected environments.

Scope and definitions: Intrusiot encompasses technical flaws, human factors, and organizational practices that enable intruders to compromise IoT devices or networks. Typical concerns include account compromise, device takeovers, data exfiltration, manipulation of device behavior, and participation of compromised devices in botnets or other attacks.

Common intrusion vectors: weak or stolen credentials, default passwords, insecure software, unpatched firmware, insecure communication protocols, insecure or opaque update mechanisms, insecure cloud links, and physical tampering. IoT devices often run lightweight operating systems that limit security features, making exploitation easier for attackers.

Impact and risks: Intrusions can breach privacy, disrupt services, and threaten safety in consumer, enterprise, and critical infrastructure contexts. Financial costs, reputational damage, and regulatory penalties may follow, as may cascading effects via supply chains or connected systems.

Mitigation and defense: A defense-in-depth approach includes strong device authentication, mutual TLS, secure boot, code signing, timely firmware updates, encryption, network segmentation, and robust anomaly detection. Secure by design principles, regular risk assessments, and incident response planning are central to reducing intrusiot risk. Research and tooling include IoT-specific intrusion detection systems, telemetry analysis, and honeypot deployments.

Examples and history: The term gained attention in discussions of botnets such as Mirai, which exploited default credentials on IoT devices to conduct large-scale DDoS attacks. Ongoing work in standards bodies and industry groups aims to improve IoT resilience against intrusiot-related threats.