Security vulnerabilities at the Edge
Think back to your last trip to the grocery store. Likely, the point-of-sale (POS) terminal was at a counter with the back facing you in line. All the ports to the computer inside that register were facing out to you – just begging for someone to plug in a USB stick or to pull out one of the network or power cables.
This is typical for nearly all far Edge devices and servers. They are physically exposed to workers, and in retail scenarios, for example, to the general public. This is further exacerbated by the following facts:
- Software must be deployed to the equipment over the network
- Any data stored on the local hard drive can be easily removed
- Network connections (the physical Ethernet jacks, for example) are also exposed, enabling other, potentially malicious, devices to be connected to the enterprise network
- Other, potentially rogue, networks can be plugged into the legitimate equipment
And that creates several...
