Companies operating within the industrial and energy and utilities sectors are responsible for protecting the critical infrastructure we all rely upon to live. However, these companies must also operate their businesses more effectively and efficiently to meet consumer and government expectations. To achieve these objectives, companies are leveraging new technologies, including the Internet of Things (IoT).
IoT devices cover a very broad spectrum of purpose, and companies are deploying these interconnected devices in their operations at a rapid pace. They use them to collect operational data, monitor operational technology performance, control processes at the edge, and capture consumer usage and performance. For this reason, the growth of the IoT within the industrial and energy sectors is poised to increase in the coming years, which is in line with Gartner’s prediction that there will be more than 26 billion connected devices by 2020. But along with this rapid increase in IoT devices comes a proportional increase in risk.
