Security has become a leading topic of discussion relating to the Internet of Things. But while lots of companies are talking about it, far fewer are adequately securing their IoT deployments.
The good news is that companies like Zentera Systems Inc. have introduced new security solutions that address the unique security requirements of IoT and the cloud. IoTEvolutionWorld recently caught up with Zentera founder and CEO Jaushin Lee to discuss his company’s solutions and what they mean for the IoT marketplace.
Here’s an excerpt from our conversation. The entire Q&A will be featured in the 1st quarter 2018 issue of Cloud Computing magazine, which will be out by the end of the first quarter of next year.
You will be speaking about shared responsibility at IoT Evolution Expo, which will be held Jan. 22 through 25 in Orlando. Can you give us a sense of the key message you want to convey, and how it relates to IoT?
I often get asked why enterprises can’t just trust CSPs to secure their cloud applications; the concept of shared responsibility is relatively new. The IoT market needs to fully comprehend shared responsibility, because IoT involves multiple companies working together in a fashion that requires mixing their environments as well. Think of it as AWS’s shared responsibility model, except the separation of duties is less clear and involves even more entities. To me, that sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.
Zentera offers security by creating enclaves. What is an enclave?
An enclave is a type of software-defined perimeter that combines networking and security. Enclaves provide built-in unified security, addressing both the Day 1 and Day 2 problems at once. Enclave security operates on a per-application basis, which means it connects and protects applications and data down to the application binaries. Think of an enclave as an application network, where the real advantage is it can be set up without reconfiguring existing networks and firewalls. As a result, enclaves can apply to all hybrid domains without disrupting underlying infrastructures.
Zentera provides security via an overlay. SD-WAN solution suppliers use the word overlay in describing their secure solutions as well. Is this an SD-WAN solution Zentera is delivering?
Because SD-WAN solutions are edge-to-edge, they are still limited to connecting one environment to another. They’re overlay in the sense that they don’t modify hardware for that one specific domain. Just like VLANs, firewalls and VPNs, SD-WAN solutions are conventional approaches to connecting and securing existing infrastructures. Zentera’s CoIP Enclave is endpoint-to-endpoint, where endpoints can be any VM, container, physical server, or IoT device; therefore, it is a true overlay solution for applications that span across multiple hybrid domains.
What does Zentera’s engagement with GM entail?
Our engagement with GM shows how our CoIP Enclave can benefit the IoT market, which is facing very similar but magnified challenges. IoT involves using the internet to connect multiple devices and applications together across a wide range of environments. These applications typically belong to different companies. That means more environments and databases are going to be shared. Therefore, companies are dealing with further instances of shared responsibility models, except they would not be presented as clearly as AWS does. In summary, our engagement with GM is similar to how we engage with enterprises, but the stakes for IoT companies are even higher.
Edited by
Ken Briodagh
