On Thursday, CloudFlare introduced a new security solution for companies troubled with IoT use. Cloudflare Orbit will act as an additional layer of protection installed on the firm’s network that detects threats before they reach devices.
The firm is one of the top performance and security agents in the world, offering several services to increase platform reliability in more than 6 million sites, including those of firms like NASDAQ, Zendesk, Udacity, OkCupid, and Cisco.
The new offering intends to solve a persistent and ever-growing conflict in IoT security, which has low-cost hardware manufacturing on one side and low compromise to safety standards on the other. Bolstering protection of these devices is essential in the face of impending threats like remote DDoS attacks.
How does CloudFlare Orbit work?
The company issued a brief press release to announce its new Orbit service, signaling a new era of Cloudflare IoT use:
“WITH ORBIT, IOT MANUFACTURERS CAN CONFIGURE THEIR DEVICES TO ONLY CONNECT TO THE INTERNET THROUGH CLOUDFLARE’S NETWORK. THEN, IF THERE IS A SECURITY VULNERABILITY, THE IOT MANUFACTURER CAN PERFORM A VIRTUAL PATCH ACROSS ALL OF THEIR DEVICES.”
Essentially, Orbit acts as a net between the device and the internet that filters both incoming and outgoing traffic. It blocks external threats and sketchy requests from reaching devices by acting as a shield, and it puts up a barrier that contains data leaks and DDoS attacks from spreading.
Cloudflare Orbit will try to keep IoT threats at bay
The announcement of Orbit responds to the increasing concerns of cyber security experts, who claim the Internet of Things is one of the main fields on which people should keep an eye over the next few years.
Specialists estimate over 22 billion IoT devices will be active by 2021, and the current model inspired by PC security is just no match to the sheer growth rate of this market segment.
Security solutions for the IoT rely on manufacturers and developers patching holes and vulnerabilities on their system with certain regularity. That is just not as profitable as actual manufacturing and sales, so they ship these devices with a suite of security measures that are updated once or twice at best.
Given its open nature and the multitude of companies that are currently creating products in this field, there is no common standard like Windows through which a ruling corporation like Microsoft can issue regular security updates.
On top of that, organizations, firms, and even some homeowners cannot be bothered with the cumbersome process of planning and scheduling an update to all of their IoT devices. These things might all have different requirements, and updating them implies interrupting or shutting down entire systems that are crucial to keeping things running in some places.
Currently, Cloudflare Orbit seems to be available only as an Enterprise offering, and companies need to submit a request expressing their interest for the service. The subscription price has yet to be disclosed, as corporate plans are tailored to firm’s needs. The standard CloudFlare Business service costs $200/month per domain.
Source: Cloudflare
