Closing the IoT Blind Spot in a Post‑Pandemic World

As organizations consider returning to physical offices, they must also focus on the security of their IoT assets,

Cities, offices, and homes are becoming increasingly connected. Yet, despite the rapid expansion of IoT—an acceleration expected in the post‑pandemic era—recent breaches, such as the Verkada security‑camera hack, demonstrate that many organizations remain unaware of the threats posed by third‑party suppliers and IoT devices.

These seemingly innocuous devices often serve as footholds for large‑scale network intrusions, enabling espionage, botnet creation, and cryptocurrency mining.

At Darktrace, our AI‑driven cybersecurity platform gives us a unique advantage in detecting even the most unconventional attacks against IoT devices.

In recent years, our AI has identified a range of alarming IoT threats, including a compromised smart locker at a European amusement park.

In one instance, we intercepted hackers attempting to infiltrate internet‑connected CCTV systems at a major global consultancy, seeking highly classified information. Beyond direct financial theft, video footage is increasingly valuable in the age of deepfakes and precision social‑engineering campaigns.

But why are we so consistently shown that IoT is a blind spot?

The root cause is that IoT products are often rushed to market with profit as the priority, leaving security as an afterthought. This creates abundant opportunities for attackers to exploit misconfigurations, brute‑force weak credentials, and take advantage of insecure designs.

Moreover, IoT communication is highly complex, typically occurring between machines. Defining a normal traffic baseline manually is practically impossible.

Traditional defenses—firewalls and vulnerability scanners—can only counter known exploits. However, attackers continuously devise novel tactics, as highlighted by the recent Verkada breach.

As IoT proliferates in the post‑pandemic era, ensuring its cyber‑security is paramount. A multi‑layered strategy is required: regulators must tighten market entry standards, consumers need tools to spot insecure devices, and organizations must implement zero‑trust IoT policies that enable rapid containment of early compromises.

Given the sheer complexity of IoT traffic, manual monitoring is no longer viable. Continuous, real‑time vigilance is essential to manage inherent risks.

Consequently, forward‑thinking organizations are turning to AI to detect and autonomously respond to emerging threats across these dynamic ecosystems.

For instance, McLaren Racing employs AI to monitor and auto‑protect data from its race‑car IoT sensors to headquarters in under 100 ms—a task that would otherwise demand the effort of roughly 60 analysts.

Similarly, the City of Las Vegas—a model smart city—has deployed AI throughout its operations to continuously monitor its diverse digital landscape and swiftly counter attacks wherever they emerge.

By establishing a baseline of normal behavior across digital environments, AI becomes indispensable for uncovering unseen, zero‑day IoT attacks—and is the key to closing the persistent blind spot.

The author is Max Heinemeyer, director of threat hunting at Darktrace.