We are now living in a world with billions of connections between people, devices, organizations, and ideas. At the heart of this connected world are devices talking to each other on our behalf.
At Bsquare, we believe that successfully navigating this connected world depends on treating devices as part of the solution to the new complexity, rather than as a problem to be solved.
Of course, security is paramount in a connected world. And a secure system must start with a secure device, whether it’s a kiosk to pay for groceries or a smart hospital bed tracking whether Grampa is trying to leave. Every machine must be securely configured, able to recover from a failure or a breach, easily updated with the latest application or device settings, and reliably upgraded to a new operating system if needed.
But a classically secured machine is not enough. We have identified five principles that define this new connected world and, when properly addressed, will enable us to enlist machines to serve as our allies.
Unprecedented speed: Devices move faster than their human operators can possibly track or respond to. With billions of devices all talking to each other, shuttling information around at rates that have never been seen before, humans are too slow to identify and handle a security compromise, whether a malicious hack or a faulty software deployment or a fire. You must manage devices with devices.
Unbounded scale: Speed is exacerbated by an ever-expanding number of devices. It’s hard to comprehend how many different microprocessors are connected and how much damage they can do when compromised. The old IT models no longer work, when a red light flashes, the operator collects data and calls a meeting to assess the problem. You must focus on how to use machine learning, heuristics, and other elements of artificial intelligence to make devices do this for you.
Always on: The demands on devices are never ending. They are designed to be unattended – think of the check-in kiosk at an airport or a soda vending machine – and require constant vigilance. Managing something that’s always on with something that’s always on gives you a better chance of avoiding, say, the blue screen of death. If you attempt to manage always-on devices without automation, believing you don’t need to pay attention all the time, you are going to fail.
Systemic learning: Devices in a network must be connected and ready to receive information from their peers. An IV pump in a hospital, for example, can alert others that its operating system has been updated or that it’s about to fail. Devices must be open to receiving information from their peers – safely via the central cloud server – to learn about the system. Your machines are loaded with useful data, the challenge is to unlock it so learning can occur.
Collective wisdom: Devices must work in concert, using all this information coming from their peers to decide what to do next and take action. You need to be able to make sense of the myriad of data that your devices are all creating and respond proactively in real time to anomalies in the network, using all that freshly unlocked data in a way that you haven’t even thought about using before.
In a world with billions of connections, the chances of a failure or breach are increasing. As these principles demonstrate, when machines are sharing information and being managed intelligently, we can successfully navigate this connected world.
Learn more about these five key principles and how they can help you successfully navigate an environment of connected devices: