IoT: Safety & Security

Like the thermodynamics example we provided above, cyber-physical and many IoT systems frequently invoke an intersection of safety and security engineering, two disciplines that have developed on very different evolutionary paths but which possess partially overlapping goals. We will delve more into safety aspects of IoT security engineering later in this volume, but for now we point out an elegantly expressed distinction between safety and security provided by noted academic Dr. Barry Boehm, Axelrod, W. C., Engineering Safe and Secure Software Systems, p.61, Massachussetts, Artech House, 2013. He poignantly but beautifully expressed the relationship as follows:

• Safety: The system must not harm the world
• Security: The world must not harm the system

Thus it is clear that the IoT and IoT security are much more complex than traditional networks, hosts and cybersecurity. Safety-conscious industries such as aircraft manufacturers, regulators, and researchers have evolved highly effective safety engineering approaches and standards because aircraft can harm the world, and the people in it. The aircraft industry today, like the automotive industry, is now playing catch-up with regard to security due to the accelerating growth of network connectivity to their vehicles.

Brian Russell, Drew Van Duren, Practical Internet of Things Security, 2016, Packt Publishing