Internet of Things made it possible for people to make their devices talk to each other. They obtain data about the environment, analyze, store, and share it with each other, connecting nearly every device you can imagine to the Internet. They are used both for industrial and personal purposes and include manufacturing sensors, complex security systems, environment analyzers, smart home solutions, intelligent personal assistants, and more.
Despite the complexity of IoT systems that are installed on the equally intricate hardware, many developers ignore the parameters extremely important for any IoT application. One of them is security which is frequently violated because the transferred data is vulnerable to various attacks.
To ensure that your IoT application is credible and robust, make your best to avoid the following common mistakes that already have jeopardized tons of IoT applications.
1 Not Understanding the Purpose
Smart things and connected devices are definitely a huge trend right now. Maybe you want to revolutionize the market, or even the world, with your next IoT project. But pause for a second and use a simple rule – if you are not sure whether your IoT product will be useful, you are better off not creating it.
Prior to the stage when you choose the IoT development services vendor, make your idea of the project clear. Collect the reasons why you want to start an Internet of Things project, what data it will process, what problems it will solve.
This rule also works fine if you want to add intelligent components to the existing product. Understanding their purpose will save you from incorporating unnecessary “smart” parts, which make the product erratic. Also, too many connected parts that process data can trigger security vulnerabilities.
2 Ignoring Security Standards
IoT devices usually connect to the Internet to share data or send requests to cloud computing services. Either way till data travels to its destination it is vulnerable to the violation, theft, or damage. Companies that operate with large amounts of sensitive data spend lots of money to ensure information security. According to Gartner, worldwide spending on data security will exceed $124 billion. Maybe you don’t need a huge budget, but yet think about how you will establish the security of your app.
You need to pay attention to two basic parameters – data-level security and device-level security. Data-level security implies strong encryption of valuable stored and shared information and applying external locking systems for smart appliances. Device-level security ensures enhanced privacy identity. Do not try cutting costs on security because it will result in much more troubles later.
3 Not Counting Scalability
The amount of data processed by IoT devices yearly rapidly grows, which causes the underlying technologies to evolve too. Building your IoT application keep in mind that if you don’t take scalability into account, the application may become outdated and stagnant in a couple of years. The functionality of the application should be customizable, and the developers should have the ability to add new features and scale the overall architecture of the app.
4 Applying Inadequate Testing
Remembering how much planning the scalability and security actions are important for the project, let’ plan the testing of your upcoming IoT app. It is an important part of the development process that allows for checking not only security and scalability but also a number of other vital parameters.
Information-rich IoT systems store and process data utilizing different types of hardware. The complexity of it demands to apply suitable testing practices, including regression testing, endurance testing, functional testing, and more.
As IoT is a top target for hackers – due to an enormous amount of holes in security – always remember that proper testing can save your app from such a fate.
5 Building Poor Data Reliability
When you interact with an IoT system you expect it to perform error-free and robust data communication, which demands smooth performance of all devices. Thus, data reliability means good-working data fidelity and integrity.
To transport obtained data from sensors to the gateway to cloud or other final destination, it needs to be checked whether it is still the same. The data can be altered or damaged during the transmission process, so it is important to ensure end-to-end data fidelity with the help of such techniques as CRC tests.
As you can see, IoT systems are not so easy to build. It is better to ask for professional help – experiences Internet of Things specialists can pay attention to every aspect of the complex IoT application development process. You may already see that there are too many things to count, and having one of them done wrong can damage the whole system.