The State of IoT Security: Unequivocal Appeal to Cybercriminals, Onerous to Defenders

The proliferation of Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices continues unabated in the consumer and commercial domains as well as in the industry. Immense potential benefits include improved quality of life, increased operational efficiency of manufacturing, more productive agriculture, ameliorated healthcare, and enriched well being. However, there is also universal consensus on the subpar cybersecurity techniques to safeguard people as well as the critical infrastructure against many adversaries with varying degrees of sophistication. In this article, we provide a summary of the state and latest developments of the IoT cybersecurity, elaborate on the fundamentals of why IoT has an unequivocal to cyberattacks and why it has been elusive and onerous to secure it. We also include a target-based taxonomy of the IoT attacks together with a discussion of short-term and long-term best-practice solution methodologies.