Smartwatches might be great tools for keeping yourself connected to important information, but they bring with them a considerable amount of security threats. Vulnerabilities can make using smartwatches and other wearable technology dangerous. We’ll examine some of the major features of the modern smartwatch, how hackers can use them to cause trouble, and what you can do about it.
The Smartwatch
The smartwatch market as we know it today has existed for almost a decade, surprisingly enough, but the first smartwatch was developed in the late ‘90s. A smartwatch is seen today as more of a peripheral for a smartphone. They come in several different shapes, sizes, and styles, but they all tend to provide some kind of utility to the user. Here are some of the main benefits of using a smartwatch:
Security Issues
The primary issue that comes from wearable technology is that it connects to your mobile device through a Bluetooth connection. Since they also connection to Wi-Fi networks, they are being exposed to two potential ways of being breached. Businesses that prioritize security (read: all businesses should prioritize security) need to be particularly wary of wearables, especially in regard to a Bring Your Own Device policy.
The modern hacker will use any opportunity they can find to hack into a device, and since wearables are particularly vulnerable to this due to the modes of connection they contain, they provide additional access points that create issues for businesses. If a hacker can gain access through an application at the wearable level, it could potentially compromise even the connected device and any network it’s attached to.
Industry experts might agree that the lack of wearable security isn’t a major concern overall, but it’s still something that you should be addressing with your business’ mobile device policy. Here are some ideas to think about:
For assistance with planning out a wearable strategy for use with your Bring Your Own Device policy, be sure to reach out to us at 253.777.0763.
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