Achieving Data-Security in Environmental Monitoring Systems

Data is King. As pretty much all businesses in pretty much all sectors have been forced to accept, the management, distribution and protection of data are now everyday concerns. But for those companies reliant upon environmental monitoring systems, how do you go about doing all of this successfully?

The first point to consider is the distinction that the cybersecurity community draws between safety and security. Data-safety refers to a system’s ability to reliably perform its functions, its ability to ensure that everything happens which needs to happen. The infrastructural requirements for data-safety include redundancy design, automated error-response and continuous error-reporting.

Data-security, on the other hand, names a system’s ability to conserve and house data. Usually, a system is thought to be secure if it simultaneously achieves availability (data can be accessed whenever it is needed), integrity (data stays intact throughout its distribution) and confidentiality (data is only accessed by the appropriate users). For systems to be secure, companies are advised to ensure that all hardware and software is certified by the appropriate authorities. There really is no work-around on this point, unfortunately, especially in a world where innovations in cybersecurity are rapid and data-piracy is constantly evolving. Of course, these conditions are hostile to complacency, too, so make sure to keep checking for software updates and new editions of your current hardware.

As a general rule, though, data-systems should be regarded as complex unities, such that solutions must address the interactions between parts as well as the parts themselves.

For a more thorough break-down of cybersecurity in environmental monitoring systems, listen to IoT’s James Kime discuss How to Achieve Secure Remote Environmental and Water Monitoring at WWEM 2021.